The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans
by Engineer4Ever
Summary: Andromeda Potter has found a refuge for her anguished soul. But as challenges new and old arise, will she able to survive as her world continues to change all around her? Book 2 is out!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.**

 **The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans**

 **Chapter One: Who Voted for Democracy?**

 **Beta: ShadowofAxios**

* * *

It started off as a typical day.

Though that only lasted up till a mighty roar echoed through the balmy afternoon air, as a diamond headed red dragon tried to snap its jaws at Camp Half-Blood's failing barrier.

"For glory!" Andi Potter, clad in Greek armor, shouted as she charged at the dragon with Skyline in its sword form.

She was followed by a squad of a half dozen other campers, their celestial bronze weapons drawn and hide shields held at the ready to defend them.

"Get back! Stay in your phalanx!" The burly Clarisse shouted from her own squad as she saw them break their formation to recklessly charge the monster.

The dragon's long neck craned towards them at the sound of Andi's war cry. Spotting them, the beast spread its wings in an intimidating display and reared its head back as it breathed a gout of fire at them.

Andi just spread her arms out wide and the air responded to her will. Swirling rapidly it formed into a shield of wind that blocked the flames. Her squad hastily huddled together behind the constructed shield, sweat dripping from their faces thanks to the heat.

Sadly, this left them wide open when the dragon charged at them with its claws drawn back for a swipe when its fire died. The campers scattered at this, some holding up their shields in a bid to protect themselves, others just fleeing. Neither option helped much as campers in both categories soon found themselves badly cut up by the dragon's deadly sharp claws.

Andi was one of the few in her squad that managed to avoid injury.

"Scatter! Attack its flanks!" Andi ordered. Her group was a little too busy trying to avoid being diced to ribbons by the dragon to obey though and Clarisse's squad, still in their phalanx was still too far away and advancing too slowly to help.

Andi's eye twitched in irritation. _Looks like I'm going to do this by myself. As usual._

Putting thoughts to action, she changed her blade into into its bow form and leapt into the air. Drawing her bowstring of wind back, she peppered the dragon's side with wind arrows. "Hey ugly, over here!" She cried out as she gained some altitude, trying to get its attention.

It worked, sorta.

The muscle bound monster turned around to face her. In the process, its long tail swiped at the demigods who were all still standing far too close to avoid it, sending practically the whole squad flying to the ground.

Andi winced at the sight. _Opps._

Flames filled its maw and it released a pillar of fire at the daughter of Zeus, who simply danced around it with graceful ease.

 _Okay, gotta finish this git off quick._ Andi thought, trying to figure out the right course of action to destroy this thing.

She was running through her options, all the while avoiding the dragon's flaming breath, when she noticed that her squadmates had finally finished getting away from the monster. _The others have cleared out. That means I can use the big guns._

Andi gripped her bow like a club and cocked it back. Her knuckles white, she cried out "Αερο (Aero)!" as she gave it a powerful swing.

As if echoing her motion, a large blast of air fanned out from the swing, flying at the dragon and nailed its flank. The wind grinded against the monster's scales like large fan blades, slowly but surely eating into its hide, then flesh and finally bone.

An enormous hole took the place of its stomach and the beast dropped dead. For a moment, her magnificent kill lay there for the world to see and Andi admired the view. But all good things must come to an end and a moment later, the dragon disintegrated into gold dust that was scattered by the breeze.

She excitedly looked towards the other campers expecting to hear some cheers for her epic victory. She frowned though when all she could see was Clarisse barking orders and having the wounded tended to.

* * *

Andi dragged her body into her large cabin, ignoring her dad's statue, and walked into her magical wardrobe to enter her room. She peeled off her armor, dumping it to the floor and went to clean up.

Hunter barked her a welcome as she passed by his doggy bed and Andi gave him a tired scratch behind his ear before heading into her bathroom.

She splashed water on her face as she looked at her disheveled appearance in the bathroom mirror. She hadn't had much sleep lately, the dark rings under her eyes were proof of that. Her hair had grown out a bit, but looked messy, as if it had never been touched by a brush.

 _At least I've finally hit five feet, so there was some good news._ The daughter of Zeus thought to herself as she began preparing for bed, even as her mind wandered.

 _So much for Camp Half-Blood being a safe haven for demigods_. Andi griped as she got together her stuff for a shower. _Ok, maybe I'm being unfair._

Camp had after all only recently developed a problem with dangerous monsters trying to get into its grounds. All because the magical pine tree that was all that remained of Thalia, the other daughter of Zeus, had been poisoned.

As a result, it was dying, which meant that the power that had fended off both mortals and monsters alike was slowing dying too.

Which meant bad news for every demigod at Camp Half-Blood.

Andi herself was miserable over everything and she was not alone. Most of the campers after being ground down by the endless patrols to keep the failing magical borders of Camp safe were starting to feel the same.

The only one that could keep the campers focused and at the ready was the trainer of heroes, Chiron.

But then her dad went and fired him, blaming the centaur for not doing anything about the situation. Well, him and Argus too. But Andi was mainly concerned with Chiron.

The child of Zeus tried talking to her dad's giant statue in her cabin. She'd tried to explain that the camp _needed_ Chiron, how he'd trained so many of them for centuries and done so much for Olympus, but her mosaic ceiling didn't even boom, it just looked rainy instead.

Her father was ignoring her. Like usual.

It hurt, but she had grown used to it by now.

 _Unless I'm going to possibly die, he's probably never going to want to just have a nice chat._ Andi thought to herself with a resigned sigh as she stepped into the shower.

Since things were going to hell in a handbasket, Andi had taken it upon herself to rally the campers to patrol and combat any invading monsters.

She had been doing this for the past two weeks.

Personally, the daughter of Zeus thought she was doing a good job, she didn't know why the other campers were complaining.

They had managed to stop no less than a dozen attacks and had done so in a pretty epic fashion each time too!

Okay, sure, some campers got hurt here and there, but come on! People were sent to the infirmary every day when they were training for this very reason!

 _Being in a coma for a week like Brittany from Cabin Ten isn't a small matter though._ A traitorous part of Andi's mind reminded her, but she ignored it. It wasn't like anyone got permanently hurt.

That was a matter of pride for her.

Speaking of her pride, one thing she was especially proud of about her handling of the whole situation was that everyone was calling her a badass nowadays. It was hard to take down some of the beasties, and where whole squads of campers had failed, she had succeeded. Hence, all the praise she was getting.

But right now?

 _All I want is some sleep_. Andi thought to herself as she finished putting on her pajamas and collapsed onto her bed.

* * *

Chiron rubbed his eyes as he finished healing another camper in the infirmary.

He had another day to pack his things, but he personally felt they could wait for now.

Still, with the chatter among the campers, he couldn't help but worry over one of his more… eccentric wards.

 _Former wards._ Chiron bitterly thought.

He was centaur enough to admit that he felt a sense of betrayal at Olympus for exiling him from camp. Sure, he understood Zeus' reasons and how they related to the Crooked One, but it still stung his integrity.

As if he would let harm come to any child here, outside a quest of course, but even then he tried to prepare them as best he could. Why, he had asked for this job! And never once had he done anything to betray the parents of the campers. He had seen them perish, achieve greatness, and flourish many times over along with their divine parents.

He'd helped Olympus time and time again, trained their greatest children, and even smoothed over some really bad situations that the gods themselves created.

And this is what all those centuries of hard work and dedication had led to? Exile because of one wayward boy with a chip on his shoulder? Because the Crooked One was on the rise once more?

That pill was both bitter and hard to swallow.

The trainer was shrewd enough to know this was a chance to covertly recruit allies for the coming war. Like how the gods more willing to consider that the titan king was on the rise were preparing in their own way, behind Zeus' back of course.

And the god king wondered why everyone did things behind his back? He just couldn't see that he was wrong over certain things. And in the rare instances that he did, was too stubborn to admit it.

Which of course tied into his current objective.

Try and have the sky king's demigod daughter understand what her father had failed to after thousands of years.

A less difficult hurdle, but still trying in its own right.

Andromeda was so much a mirror of her Father, it wasn't even a joke. Well, if it was then it was one that he didn't find funny at least.

But not everything about the girl was bad, she still had some of the good qualities that her father showed. Rare though the instances that he did so were. Chiron just needed to nurture these qualities in Andi.

A lot.

His determination that he saw often misused to get his way even when wrong and the shrewdness that he occasionally showed were both qualities that Andi had adopted from her father. Chiron was determined to cultivate these qualities positively in the daughter of Zeus.

"Hiya Chiron!" Andi greeted enthusiastically. She sunk tiredly into the deck chair across the table from the centaur on the balcony of the BIg House. With just a glance, he could tell she was exhausted by keeping up with the punishing patrol schedule that the camp's failing wards had made necessary. She was handling it better than most of the other campers though despite the above average effort she had put into the patrols. That was a relief for Chiron, at least.

"So, what's up?" She asked, her electric blue eyes scanning him curiously, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "Did Pops take back what he said?"

Chiron just offered a sad smile. "No child, but I wish as much as you do, that he will eventually." He stapled his fingers on the table and continued. "No, I wanted to go over what happened earlier this morning."

"Oh, when I totally trashed that stupid lizard, right?" She smiled brightly at this, looking ever so proud of her victory.

Chiron restrained a wince. "Yes, that. But I'm mainly concerned with how you led the other campers in that fight. I'm proud at how ready you are to be on the frontlines of every fight, it's admirable." He let out a sigh. "But I would like to point out, and pardon my bluntness, your rather reckless zeal and how it led up to it causing your fellow half-bloods to be hurt."

Andi sank lower in her seat, releasing a groan. "It was a fight. Of course people are going to get hurt. I do all the time, but I get right back up."

"Yes but not everyone is like _you_ , Andromeda." Chiron stressed sternly. "Not everyone can take the kind of damage you can. Or recover as quickly."

Andi just blinked at him. "Well, they should learn to take a hit better."

Yes, he could see this was not going to get anywhere. Not with how she was so ready to deflect the issue.

Gods, why couldn't the apple have fallen farther from the tree?

The centaur decided to try another route, he'd backtrack to that later on. Hopefully at least.

"There was something else I wished to discuss."

Andi crossed her arms, a frown marring her face. "Yeah?"

His fingers laced together. "I've noticed that outside your standard Hogwarts magic, all your other spells are quite flashy."

"What's the problem with that?" Andi replied defensively.

The trainer took a deep breath. "What I'm trying to say is, that I've been around for a long time, and while not a practitioner, I know quite a bit about magic. And while some of the more explosive spells you've learned are effective, I believe you're overlooking some of the more helpful basics."

"I don't see the basics helping us right now with monsters knocking on our cabin doors."

"But those basics will help you build up towards more powerful magics won't they?"

Andi waved Chiron's suggestion away dismissively. "I just skipped them and went for the good stuff. If there are spells that I do need later, I can learn them then. But I doubt that'll ever happen."

Now he was frowning. "I think that's just wasting your potential. Just as with training, you need to start from the basics and move from there to the more advanced techniques. That's essential to magical knowledge as well."

And it was shameful for someone dubbed Hecate's new champion to do otherwise.

Oh, he was rather irate at how Hecate so blatantly railroaded Andi into the position when she was in the midst of recovering from a battle. He would have wished she had time to think on such an important decision, she was thirteen after all, and it was not really fair to have her make the decision then. However, the magic goddess was a shrewd one and had even appealed to Zeus over the matter.

And Zeus was always one to have his children glorified with immortality.

 _Because Hercules was so happy with that._ Chiron mused with a snort.

Especially if it gave him the excuse to eliminate a certain child of Poseidon without looking like an absolute hypocrite.

But that was another issue, for another time.

The child of Zeus just shrugged uncaringly.

Seeing that Chiron knew that what he was about to say would likely not win him any favors with the girl, but he had to try. "And doing something like that is similar in how you are leading the campers, wasting their potential with your recklessness."

It was sad. Chiron suspected that Andi was so dismissive of the value of potential and the need to fulfill it because no one had ever told her that she needed to do so. Instead, they only ever paid attention to her when she pulled off something particularly eye-catching. As a result, she had learned to only care about those flashy abilities to the detriment of her overall abilities as she overlooked the basics.

Andi just groaned again.

He ignored it and continued. "This camp is home to those with a wide diverse range of skills, think on that. Use that potential instead of just using them as warm bodies to fill your ranks and as cannon fodder. If you do this, your coming battles will go far better."

"I still won, didn't I?" Andi shot back, glaring angrily.

Chiron let out a sigh, as he realized he was getting nowhere. Resigned, he waved his hand to dismiss Andi.

Hopefully he'd have another chance to help her.

* * *

Will had just finished stringing another backup bow by his cabin, when he saw Andi slinking away from the Big House with a sour face.

Placing it on the rack, the son of Apollo got up and jogged over to her with a smile. "Andi!"

She turned to see him, and returned a nice little smile of her own. "Hey Will."

"Had a chat with Chiron?" The blond asked, hoping it was over what he thought it was.

And the frown returned, with a vengeance. "Yeah." Andi said, kicking some dirt lightly. "He was going over some of the stuff from this morning. He was saying that I got the campers hurt because of my recklessness."

"About that…" Will trailed off, something which caused her frown to grow. "You can't say he was wrong."

"Not you too!" Andi groaned. "You're saying that too? Why are you all complaining about that?"

"Well, no one likes to get hurt." Will began only to be cut off.

"It was a fight. That's kinda unavoidable." Andi shot back tiredly.

"That's true and the campers understand that. They just want you to be a bit more cautious with their safety." Will explained carefully, knowing full well that he was treading on dangerous ground. "The infirmary was kind of filled today."

Andi just shook her head. "So what? Like I said, it was a fight. People get hurt in those all the time."

Will was about to argue, but before he could open his mouth he felt a strong grip on his arm. He turned his head to see Clarisse.

"Be right back." She said, dragging the son of Apollo off.

"Hey! Let go!"

Clarisse ignored him and dragged him to the side of her cabin, glaring daggers at him. "Are you nuts?" She hissed furiously.

Will just yanked his arm back, rubbing it with a frown. "About?"

"You know Potter's the type that just doesn't listen. The best thing to do is manage her like the loose cannon that she is."

"...She's a person Clarisse." His sky blue eyes narrowed. Sure, he wasn't intimidating like Clarisse, but her comment made his stomach knot up. "You can't just point and tell her to shoot."

"Yeah?" The daughter of war laughed. "Watch me. I'm doing everyone in this camp a favor."

Will could only ball his fists. He knew Andi was sort of wild, and lacked control over some things, but she still a person… not a weapon for Clarisse to control.

You couldn't control wind, his dad learned that the hard way with Hyacinthus.

The son of Apollo turned and walked away, hoping that he could do something, anything, to help Andi.

He just hoped there was something that he _could_ do.

* * *

It was a couple days later and Chiron's replacement as activities director had finally arrived. And it was for that reason that the daughter of Zeus found herself called to the Big House by Mr. D via messenger satyr.

Andi wasn't too thrilled with the idea of Chiron being replaced, but knew there was nothing she could do about it and so was resigned to accept it. She didn't have to be happy about it though.

She knocked on the door and heard an "Enter" come from inside. Opening the door, she saw Mr. D lounging on the sofa, flipping through a copy of _Wines of the World_.

"Amy." Mr. D uncaringly greeted in his usual name forgetting way.

"So this is the 'leader' of this camp?" The man seated across from Mr. D, the new activities director presumably, asked the god.

Andi puffed up at being called that, her previous unhappiness at Chiron's dismissal set aside for the moment.

"Heh, more than you were of anything." Mr. D told the man in a mocking tone.

"Yes." The man said with a clearly forced smile.

Mr. D snorted. "Though that's not saying much about either of you."

Andi deflated at that, but the man just kept up that forced smile of his.

"Anyways," the god continued ignoring their responses. "Amy, this our new activities director, Tantalus."

At his introduction, Andi gave the guy a good look and found the guy to be a complete creepo. He was deathly pale and bony, wearing a threadbare orange prisoner's jumpsuit, had blue shadows under his eyes, filthy chewed down fingernails, and grey hair cut so bad, it looked like it had snogged a weedwacker.

He gave a her a crooked smile with his uneven yellow teeth.

She blanched at the mere sight.

"Andromeda Potter." He greeted in a pleasant tone.

"Uh, hi." She said warily.

"Best keep your eye on this one, the troublemaking type." Mr. D informed with a frown.

"She is a child of Zeus like we are, isn't she Lord DIonysius? It's only natural." The ghastly man observed.

Mr. D lowered his magazine, his people's eyes twinkling with annoyance. "Mortals, dead ones especially, shouldn't be comparing themselves to gods."

"My apologies, Lord Dionysius." The apparently dead man offered insincerely. "I meant no offense."

As he finished speaking, an opened jar of Cheese Puffs appeared. One of the snacks flew into Mr D's mouth. As he chewed on and swallowed it, the wine god acted as if it had been the greatest Cheese Puff in the world.

Tantalus drooled at the sight, making Andi inch away.

"Oh, would you like one?" Mr. D said in faux surprise.

Tantalus gave the tiniest nod of his head.

"Well, help yourself." The god motioned him to the jar.

Tantalus got up, slowly moving towards the jar like a starved but cautious predator.

His hand was half a foot away when the jar suddenly jerked into motion and moved out of his reach. The man then swiped at it, but the jar just floated above his head. He released a snarl and jumped for it, only for the jar to float away from him, as if it was laughing.

No wait, that was just Mr. D snickering as he watched on with amusement.

"You have to try harder if you want it, dear boy." Mr. D said with mirth.

"No no, it's fine." A breathless Tantalus said even as he continued to eye the jar of food covetously. "I'll just grab something to eat later."

"Oh? Already? Well then, we can have another laugh, I mean chance. Yes, chance. At dinner."

The new activities director grimaced at the mere thought even as Mr. D smirked.

Andi just watched the whole scene with wary fascination.

She knew Mr. D could be kinda mean, but this seemed outright cruel for some reason.

As if reading her mind, which he probably did, Mr. D shot her an exasperated look before telling her in a chiding tone, "You really need to brush up on your legends, Amy."

 _What was that supposed to mean?_ She'd been doing just that. She'd been spending hours each day extensively going through all the lore about monsters as of late to better defend the camp.

Mr D just rolled his eyes.

"I believe I'm going to take a walk about camp, Lord Dionysius." Tantalus said quickly and started to shuffle Andi out the door. "Andromeda can show me around."

"Hey!" Andi complained about the girl handling. She had a no creepo policy on her body.

And this was a direct violation of it!

"Whatever." Mr. D said dismissively, going back to his magazine. "Just be there for dinner."

Tantalus grimaced again at the mention of dinner but nevertheless managed a nod.

* * *

"So, what'd you do?" Andi asked the guy, looking at his prison garb.

"Nothing. Just a small joke that was blown completely out of context." Tantalus hedged. "The gods were never very forgiving towards jokes on themselves."

Andi nodded. She had been in situations where her pranks got her into trouble before, though thankfully not with the gods.

"That blows. Though I've learned that sometimes jokes only seem funny to us, but are actually hurtful to others." Andi offered, imparting the lesson she learned the past year. "Maybe your joke was something like that?"

"In hindsight? Perhaps." The prisoner agreed. "Though I must commend you on being wise enough to realize that. I wish I was half as wise when I was your age."

Andi felt her pride swell at the praise.

By this point, the duo had reached the cabins and Andi began explaining the various cabins to the man. Though he skirted around Cabin Four like it was cursed and stayed a good distance away from Cabin One. Besides that, he also wasn't too interested in the cabins themselves, seeming instead to be more interested in talking to Andi about herself.

In fact, he was so interested about learning about her that after touring the cabins he suggested that Andi take them to some place they could relax and just chat rather than continue with a tour of camp.

Andi took him to the dock by the canoeing lake. It was where she often practiced her powers and was within sight of most of the other activity areas in camp, so Andi felt safe there even if she was with her creepo dead brother.

It turned out however that she needn't have worried. Her brother, despite his creepy appearance was a great guy. He was genuinely interested in her, in a way that no other family member she'd ever met was. He set there patiently listening as she told him all about herself. Praised her for all her accomplishments. And perhaps most importantly was sympathetic about all her worries.

When she told him about how she didn't know what to think about him replacing Chiron, he comforted her.

"Oh dear sister, he won't be gone long. I'm just standing in for a while. Once this mess is sorted out, he'll be back." He assured her. "But in the meantime, I just want us to get along. Like family should."

Andi liked the idea of that. She liked it a lot.

He also shared her worries about Thalia's poisoning.

"It saddens me a great deal as well that such a fate has befallen our sister. It is one of the reasons why I accepted this job. I want to help make sure she recovers and to catch the criminals responsible for this heinous crime." The son of Zeus confessed to Andi earnestly.

Hearing all this, by the end of their talk, Andi couldn't help but begin to trust the man despite his terrifying appearance.

* * *

The two siblings talked for hours, but all good things must come to an end and as dinner approached, Tantalus was forced to take his leave to report to Mr. D. With an apologetic goodbye and a promise to talk more later, he departed.

As Andi was about to head back to her own cabin to freshen up before dinner, she felt her arm being hooked and turned to see Katie, a nervous look on her face.

"Andi, I need your help."

"With what?" The daughter of Zeus asked with concern, since Katie was looking real spooked.

"Oh you know, plant stuff, gardening stuff. Things you need an extra set of hands for. Now."

"Um, well-"

"Thanks!" Katie beamed and practically dragged her away.

Andi just went along with it.

"Andi, stop talking to that man." Katie hissed quietly once they were completely out of sight of Tantalus.

"Why? He's my brother."

Katie looked as green as her eyes. "Andi, don't you know what that, that sicko did!? He's not someone you should trust." She chided in a big sister fashion. "He's probably just using you."

Andi frowned at that, digging her heels in, making them come to a stop. Righting herself, Andi looked at her friend.

"He's not _that_ bad. Have you even talked to him?"

Katie gagged at the very notion. "Like I would want to even breathe the same air as him!"

"He's dead, doesn't exactly need air."

Katie just rubbed her eyes. "Andi, just do me a favor and stay away from him. He went to the Field of Punishment for a reason. That's all you need to know to say that he's bad news." She placed a hand on Andi's arm. "Please stay away from him?"

Andi just shrugged. "Can't promise anything at this point."

Katie looked dejected at that, but wasn't willing to give up just yet. "Andi, if you don't believe me then go research who he is. Then you'll see that I'm in the right here."

Andi shot Katie a stubborn look. "I'll think about it."

Katie gave a sad sigh but nodded. "That's all I can ask for."

With that the daughter of Demeter said a quick goodbye and walked off towards her cabin.

Andi just continued towards her cabin to clean up for dinner, upset that her friend was trying to tell her who to and not to trust. The only one who got to make that choice was _her_.

No one else.

* * *

"Man, now we have to deal with bulls?" Andi muttered as she stared at the elephant sized bronze bulls. Fire expelled from their snouts, their ruby eyes glowing menacingly. They were the latest threat to Camp Half-Blood and the campers were preparing to face them.

"Scratch that, fire breathing bulls made of bronze." The daughter of Zeus started to float in the air, pushing up a sleeve. "Okay, let's do this!" She cried out and soared ahead.

As she did, she didn't hear any war cries as she kicked an arc of air into the face of the bull to the left. "Come on you wannabe burger patty!" She reeled her fist back and punched. The air blast that she created with the move, crushed one of the automation's eyes.

 _Where the heck are those guys?_ Andi pondered worriedly as there was no follow-up to her attack.

She gained some altitude as the bull inhaled and released a gout of flames and spared a look at the other campers to find out what happened. She was worried that they had been ambushed, but that wasn't the case.

"Guys!" Andi shouted in exasperation as she saw what _really_ happened. Dodging flames and blowing them away with a wave of her hand, she spotted Clarisse organising the other campers, including those supposedly in _her_ squad, into a phalanx.

 _Fine, I can do this myself._ Andi glowered and shot into the sky like a missile. She flipped her body to look downwards, the soles of her shoes pressed against a thin platform of solid air. She pushed off it, air screeching behind her as she came back down like a meteor.

A protective dome of air formed around her, swirling wildly as she collided with one of the mechanical bulls, a loud gonging noise filling the air as the monster stumbled fifteen feet. It's side now held a large dent that filled half its flank.

Andi tumbled along the ground and shot back to her feet, panting a little as she pulled back her bowstring, pelting the other bull with suppressing fire in rapid succession. Not that it was damaged much, sure her arrows was piercing the bronze armor that made up its hide but they were just small nicks to the automaton. It barely even seemed to notice them.

"Potter! Bring it over here!" Clarisse hollered.

Andi spared a glance at the campers at that and noticed that they had finished forming up into a proper phalanx with their celestial bronze spears glimmering in the afternoon sun.

"What if it flanks you guys?"

"I have that covered!" Clarisse sneered. "Just steer it so it's to our front, Airhead!"

 _She said steer, funny._ Andi snorted mentally but agreed with the plan and lured the bull she had injured towards the phalanx. Even as she did though, she noticed that Clarisse had positioned a number of campers armed with bola launchers that the Hephaestus cabin had whipped up on the flanks.

Smart move on her part to counter the possibility of the bull flanking the phalanx, since if it tried, it would just bring itself into range of the launchers.

"What about the other bull?" Andi asked as she closed on the injured bull to put the plan into action.

"Princess' got it handled. I guess." Clarisse replied, gesturing across the hill to where Percy and Annabeth were combating the previously undamaged bull. Though it was now sporting quite a few cuts that were bleeding fire. Percy's handiwork no doubt.

But the two also seemed to be shouting at each other. Oh, and there was this strange big kid with them too. Weird.

"Ignore them! Focus!" Clarisse said gesturing to the unengaged bull.

"I've got it!" Andi shouted as she conjured a wind rope and tried to lasso the injured bull. Unfortunately, she was by no means a cowgirl and missed terribly on her first try.

Well, so much for her Wild West impersonation.

"...I've got it this time!"

The second time though she just used her powers to conjure the ropes around the rampaging bull. It bucked hard and set its whole body ablaze to break free and Andi was forced to dig deep to keep her grip on it. She blasted air from the soles of her shoes and pulled it, steering it towards the bristling line of spears that was the campers' phalanx.

The bull fought her for every inch of ground but Andi didn't give in, and slowly but surely dragged the monster into range of the bola launchers.

"Fire!" Clarisse ordered as the bull crossed into range. Immediately, the air was filled with the sounds of small explosions as the bolas were fired into the air with great force and fell onto the bull.

Weighed down by the dozens of balls of solid celestial bronze, the bull fell down to the earth with a thump.

"Charge!"

As one, the campers advanced in an orderly row and pierced its bronze hide with their long celestial bronze spears, delivering hundreds of stab wounds. Fire wept from the wounds and the rogue automation let out a mournful bellow as the damage became too much to handle and its ruby eyes dimmed and its body became limp.

"Alright, another baddy bites it!" Andi cheered.

Off in the distance a shout of "BAD COW!" was heard, followed by a sickening crunch. Andi and the other campers turned to look at what was happening in the fight with the other bull, just in time to see the huge kid punch the skull of the other bull in like it was made of tinfoil.

"Whoa, go new guy!" The daughter of Zeus whooped.

* * *

 **Done and done! Thanks to the team of Nameless and Axios as always.**

 **To start things off, Andi hasn't seemed to have gotten the leadership gene from daddy dearest, huh? Well, yeah, that's the point. We subtly touched on it that in the last book. So keep in mind, this is a fault of hers, and will come into play later on.**

 **Nameless: As we can see, we finally gave clear examples of Andi as a shitty leader. Before anyone complains, keep in mind that someone can't be good at everything. They'd be a Mary Sue/Gary Stu if they were. This is one of Andi's major weak points, deal with it.**

 **And so enters Tanty Ass himself, and Andi likes him, kinda. You have to remember, with Thalia poisoned, and Andi's stress over the stuff that's going off in rapid succession, she just wants someone to be family. Sure, she's got her friends, but she's in the mindset of "Direct Family" is always best, this will come into play later as well.**

 **Nameless: So Andi has been hoodwinked by Tantalus. Well, chalk this up to her ignorance of who he is, her desperate desire for loving family and his own people's skills. Don't worry she won't stay under his 'spell' for long.**

 **And so, Percy and Annabeth, with Tyson, has entered the story. It's gonna get fun~!**

 **Also, the fic cover art was a commission done by FlockeInc. Check out a bigger version on Deviantart. I like it and hope you guys do too.**

 **And yes, we are back to weekly updates!**

 **Please review, no flames and smash that review button!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.**

 **The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans**

 **Chapter Two: Rat Race**

 **Beta: ShadowofAxios**

* * *

Annabeth took the news of Thalia's poisoning pretty hard. Andi could understand, she felt the same in a way. Percy was also pretty unhappy over the danger the camp was in now.

Camp was supposed to be a safe haven, but now it was slowly becoming a trap. With the increasing frequency and intensity of the monster attacks, it was only a matter of time before one made it through Camp's borders and then their idyllic sanctuary would become nothing more than a monster's all you can eat demigod buffet. The campers were determined to prevent that, but as they were steadily being worn down by the repeated attacks, there was a growing feeling that they couldn't hold out forever.

And then there was Tyson, Percy's friend from school. Her cousin introduced her to the big guy, but the new boy was very shy and just ducked his head at the sight of her while mumbling out a greeting. Andi did catch him commenting to himself that he thought she was pretty though. Andi was flattered, even if she personally didn't think she was that pretty. Cute? Maybe. Pretty? She didn't think so.

Then Annabeth pointed out that Tyson was a baby cyclops.

Both Andi and Percy were surprised by this. But after hearing about how he saved Percy from a game of deadly dodgeball, the daughter of Zeus couldn't help but see him as a good chap. Monster be damned.

So it was with a broad, genuine smile that she thanked him for saving Percy's life.

Annabeth looked revolted over the notion of a friendly monster, an opinion that seemed to be shared by most of the campers to some degree as well.

But Andi just waved it off, even as her friends tried to tell her otherwise, assuring them that Tyson was okay. She was however saddened to note that this seemed to make them look at her a little more warily than before. The reactions from the other campers were a lot more vocal.

Andi brushed them off, like she had their persistent complaints about her leadership. Annabeth noted this and seemed a little confused and concerned, though that didn't stop her from joining in with the calls for her to reconsider what she thought of Tyson.

As if all this drama wasn't enough for the new arrivals, Clarisse had to drop the biggest bomb on them right there. She told them about Chiron being canned by Zeus. This made Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson, run to the Big House to talk to the trainer.

Geez, she couldn't even wait long enough to give them a chance to get some rest first? Talk about inconsiderate.

Things didn't improve for Percy and Tyson at dinner. During the meal, Mr. D had, as was his habit, started to mess with Percy by commenting about how he was in the papers again for burning down a school gym. Tyson on the other hand was forced by Tantalus to stand by the head table the whole time, even while he took his own sweet time listing the new changes he was introducing as the temporary activities director.

Changes that included:

One, that there would be no more patrols.

This almost caused a riot right there in the dining pavilion as many of the campers began to protest the move. But Tantalus was smart, and announced his next change before things got too ugly.

Two, he was reinstating the chariot races with the reward of no chores for a month for the winner.

This quickly distracted the campers from their anger and quite a few campers were downright eager at the prospect of the race. Andi was one of them.

Not even someone from Apollo Cabin pointing out that the race had been discontinued due to the three deaths and twenty six mutilations it had caused seemed to dampen the campers' enthusiasm.

After hearing that, Andi couldn't blame Chiron for discontinuing the races. He was a worrywart like that. She honestly didn't see the big deal though, as demigods they faced the possibility of injury or death every time they faced a monster. Why should it be any different in their training? At least then they would be taking those risks while having some fun.

Only after having completed all his announcements did Tantalus turn his attention to Tyson. With a rather wicked gleam in his eyes, he started to verbally ponder ideas for a monster hunt, suggesting the possibility of using the young cyclops as the subject of the hunt and the issue of where to house Tyson while the hunt was organised.

Andi was horrified. It was growing increasingly obvious to her that her brother was not a nice person, but to suggest something like this?

She really needed to do that research that Katie suggested.

Thankfully, Tyson was spared from whatever Tantalus had in mind for him when he was claimed.

By Poseidon no less.

Andi thought it was a pretty cool thing for the god to do, but Percy looked anything but happy over the news.

* * *

It was the next morning, the weather was nice sans the harsh breeze that whipped about, but Andi paid it no mind.

During the singalong last night, all the campers had secretly plotted on how to continue the patrols behind Tantalus' back. No one bought his nonsense about camp being perfectly safe even with the wards failing, and they were determined to do what needed to be done to continue keeping it safe.

Andi joined in as soon as she found out. She in fact had a patrol later in the afternoon.

But right now, she needed to have a talk with her cousin.

As such she made her way over to Cabin Three.

She rapped her knuckles against the door of the sea themed cabin and waited while teetering on the balls of her feet. A few minutes later, a grumpy looking Percy opened the door. His black hair was messy and wild, and his sea green eyes were narrowed from the glare of the sun hitting his face.

"Hey Andi, what's up?" He said, stifling a yawn with his hand.

"Just checking up on you and Tyson. Yesterday was kinda hectic." She grimaced, folding her arms behind her back.

At this, Percy just grunted, gaining that trademarked broody look of his on his face.

Noticing his change of mood, she couldn't help but ask. "What's eating you?"

She had her suspicions, they were why she'd come to talk to him, but she wasn't going to assume anything.

Percy's face, impossibly, got even broodier, even as he replied. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Andi shot him an unconvinced look and pressed. "Is this about Tyson?"

Percy stiffened slightly.

She thought so.

"Percy, it is, isn't it?" Andi asked encouragingly.

The son of Poseidon just looked away and grunted sullenly in agreement.

"I thought you'd be happy to have a bunkmate. Heck, I'd be thrilled if I got a new brother." Andi freely confessed.

Percy's hand on the doorknob tightened, the son of Poseidon's entire posture growing less friendly as he hissed in reply. "I'm not you, Andi!"

Andi frowned. "I know that! But seriously? You're upset at having a new brother? Really?"

Percy shot her a furious look, and for a moment the daughter of the sky honestly thought he was about to attack her. Fortunately, he seemed to calm himself down with a breath.

"Andi, leave me alone." The son of the sea god shot back as he began to close his door.

"Hey, it's dawn, way too early to get hostile." The child of the sky said as she held her hands up placatingly.

"Where is he anyway?" She asked, looking around him to peer into Cabin Three.

"He went off to Cabin Nine, Beckendorf said he'd look after him." Percy just answered with a grunt, pausing midway while closing his door. Though from how white his knuckles were, he was still pissed like hell.

"That was kind of Beckendorf, nice to know he's making friends." Andi nodded happily.

This was the last straw for Percy it seemed. Spinning around, he glared at his cousin.

"You really don't get it, do you?"

Andi blinked in confusion. "I guess not. So, what am I not getting?"

Percy pushed off the door and got right into Andi's personal space, glaring down at the shorter girl with anger. Andi couldn't help the sweat that broke out on her brow at his sheer intensity. She wasn't scared of him, at least she didn't think so, but she had never seen Percy truly angry before. Not like this. The daughter of Zeus wasn't prepared for it.

"You don't get what it means to have a monster for a sibling, Andi. Do you even fathom how embarrassing it is to be told by my dad, via claiming, that I have as much standing as a monster?"

Andi tried to formulate a reply. But she couldn't, because Percy was right. She couldn't really put herself in his shoes.

"No, you don't." He said with a harsh tone when she couldn't say anything.

Right then and there, Andi wanted to slap Percy across the face.

Instead, she balled her fists, and regarded Percy coolly. "To me, Tyson seems like an okay bloke. I mean, he saved your ungrateful bum twice in one day, didn't he? Maybe you should take a step back, and try to look at him for himself, and not his species."

Percy's eyes went wide as she called him out on his speciesism. His eyes quickly hardened as he rebutted, "Those are completely different things, Andi. And you know it!"

Andi just spun on her heels and walked away in disgust, replying as she did. "Not in my book and it shouldn't be in yours either!"

 _I'd honestly thought better of him._

* * *

After her talk with Percy, Andi was in the mood for a fight. So she went to talk to someone she knew would give her one.

Tantalus.

She'd done quite a bit of research on him at Katie's suggestion.

And after reading about what her brother had done, she was not an amused daughter of Zeus.

So it was time to confront the man and see what he had to say for himself.

And if he was as much of a wanker as the legends say he was then hopefully she could blow him up without Mr. D making a big deal out of it.

She found the spirit lounging on the deck of the Big House reading through some papers while his left hand idly chased around a runaway donut on the table beside his chair.

"Tantalus, I need to talk to you!" Andi belligerently demanded as she walked up and took a seat across from him.

The dead king raised an eyebrow at her behavior but humored her and set aside his papers to give her his full attention. "Of course, sister. I always have time for you. What is it that you want to talk about?"

"Why you ended in the Field of Punishment." Tantalus sighed at this but didn't interrupt as the daughter of Zeus continued. "You said it was for a prank gone wrong. But how, in the name of Olympus, does killing your own son and feeding him to the gods count as a prank!?"

"It _was_ a prank," Tantalus insisted. "One that the gods overreacted to. The details have just been embellished over the centuries."

"How does murdering your son get embellished!?" The living child of Zeus pressed.

Grunting in frustration, Tantalus offered his version of events. "By making what was an ill-conceived attempt at having a new way to offer a sacrifice to the gods out to be a heinous crime."

"You killed your son as a sacrifice!?" Andi exclaimed in shocked disgust.

The activities director shook his head sadly. "Yes. Just like so many of my fellow kings in that age did, I offered my son to the gods as recompense for offending them."

The daughter of Zeus was confused. _Why is he making it seem like human sacrifice was common back then._

"What are you talking about?"

"All the other kings in my age did it. A good example is that of your own namesake, the original Andromeda."

Andi paled as she realized that Tantalus was right.

"Her mother offended some nymphs, who ran to Lord Poseidon and he in turn released a Cetus upon that kingdom. So what did they do about it?"

"They went to the oracle." Andi said.

"Big mistake, everyone's big mistake." Tantalus grimaced. "So they did that, and the oracle said to sacrifice their daughter and they would be saved."

"And they were, but not out of sacrifice, but because Perseus came in and kicked butt." Andi retorted.

"Yes, but they still willingly sacrificed their daughter, no?" The damned spirit slyly noted.

Andi couldn't dispute that, so uncertainly - She wasn't sure about anything she'd read about Tantalus anymore - changed tack.

"But what about the cannibalism?"

Tantalus grew angry at this. "Why does everyone accuse me of that? I am not a cannibal!"

"You're not?" Andi asked cautiously.

"NO! All I did was offer my sacrifice directly to the gods. I ate none of it. It would have been improper otherwise."

"But you tried to trick them into eating human flesh, didn't you?"

"Trick them?" Tantalus scoffed. "Hardly. I invited them to a meal at my table with the promise of a new way to offer them a sacrifice as the main course. It was my way for making up for revealing the secrets of nectar and ambrosia to my people. It's not _my_ fault that they didn't appreciate my new method."

"And what would make you think that letting them eat a human was a good thing?" Andi shot back incredulously.

"How is it any different from killing someone and having them feed on the smoke when we burned the body?" Tantalus asked with a shrug. "That was how we used to offer our human sacrifices to the gods, you know. I was just being more direct."

Andi was unconvinced by this argument. "What made you think the gods would want that!? After being eaten by Granddad as babies, why would they support eating people?"

"Why did they condone human sacrifice then? How was I to know that they had an aversion to actually eating people when killing them in their name was totally ok?" Tantalus retorted.

Andi couldn't rebut that and moved on, she was starting to get a headache.

"Ok, let's forget about what happened then." Andi said as she rubbed her fingers against her temples. "Just tell me, would you do something like that now? We don't practice human sacrifice anymore."

"Of course I wouldn't!" Tantalus declared without hesitation and sounding quite genuine.

Satisfied with that, Andi moved to leave, but Tantalus stopped her.

"Before you leave, dear sister, there is something that I would like to remind you." The dead man waited for permission to continue, and at Andi's nod did so. "We mortals are just the playthings of the gods. You can look back in every story and see it. Just look at what Poseidon did to poor Minos' wife. The poor woman suffered terribly and all over a bull and because he was jealous of our Father." Tantalus frowned. "To them, we're like women back in my day, property at best, pets at worst… or was it the other way around."

He quickly became lost in pondering whether it was better for mortals to be the pets or property of the gods.

Nodding to Tantalus that she understood, which the preoccupied man in turn barely acknowledged with his own shallow nod, Andi took her leave.

She was pretty sure Tantalus was trying to redeem himself. He sounded genuine when he said he wouldn't commit a crime like what had gotten him into the Field of Punishment. Though she suspected that was only because he hoped to somehow reduce his punishment.

 _I've gotta be more wary of him from here on out._ Andi promised herself.

But one good thing did come from this conversation, it had reminded her that the legends weren't always correct. That there were plenty of things that they left out.

 _I've gotta be more careful when I read them from now on._ _This must be the true history that Hecate talked about._

The demigod was honestly hyped to be learning about it in the future.

* * *

It was time for lunch and Andi was taking Hunter along with her for once. Usually the dog had his meals in her cabin, but today she was supposed to be going on a patrol after lunch. As such, it just made sense to take him along.

Seriously, what monster with any sense of self-preservation would want to mess with her lovable hound?

Andi's musings were interrupted when suddenly a loud howl of pain broke out in the center of camp, making all the half-bloods turn to see what had happened.

It was Tantalus, on the ground in pain with Hunter's teeth sunk into his leg, tearing at it viciously.

"Get it off of me!" Tantalus shouted in pain.

All the other campers were either laughing or smiling at the display.

Andi blinked in shock, and quickly turned to her side where her hound had been just a moment earlier.

"Hunter? Hunter!" She ran towards the commotion. "Stop!"

Andi ran up to her dog and pulled him off the man by his collar.

"Hey, hey!" Andi told her loyal dog. "Hunter, you can't just bite him!"

Tantalus looked relieved at hearing that.

"You don't know where that leg's been." She chided Hunter.

Tantalus stood up, "I should have that mutt put down." He hissed angrily.

"Hey, he's not a mutt!" Andi frowned at the camp activities director. Hunter was a pure breed through and through!

He had the papers for it in the cabin.

Tantalus snorted. "Like it matters. Just randomly attacking people like this? That dog is a menace. It needs to be dealt with."

Andi was about to protest but Mr. D suddenly interjected as he strolled by on his own way to the Dining Pavilion.

"I found it funny. Plus, he's a good pooch, far more capable than these little animals." He said, looking at the demigods who were watching the scene unfold.

"Fine." Tantalus conceded. "But he still needs to be punished for this."

Mr. D didn't dispute this and even nodded agreeingly.

"Hm, true. I guess he can get confined to the doghouse. Hmm… Don't we have one in the Big House?"

Tantalus paled to a light blue at that, while Hunter grinned viciously, showing off his sharp white teeth.

"I think we can let it slide this time." The spirit said nervously. "First offense and all that."

Mr. D just shrugged. "If you're sure."

"I am." The activities director said through gritted teeth, before turning to Andi. "So long as the dog is kept on a tighter leash from now onwards."

"I promise that he'll behave from now onwards." Andi assured her brother.

With that, Tantalus nodded and limped off. Mr. D following behind him with a satisfied smile spread across his face.

Andi looked down at Hunter. "You can't just bite people. It's wrong. At least make sure you can't get in trouble before you do it, kay?"

Hunter let out an annoyed whine, but bobbed his head in obedience.

Andi scratched his ear. "Good boy. Now, let's grab lunch and hit that patrol."

* * *

Over the course of the next few days, Hunter took to following Andi's orders to the letter. Much to Tantalus' frustration and the campers' amusement.

Hunter was doing everything within his power to annoy the Hades out of Tantalus.

Like one time during dinner, when Tantalus ordered a T-bone steak to simply smell, all he got was the bone. Which was 'mysteriously' covered in dog slobber.

I guess you can say Hunter was trying to give him a bone.

It didn't stop Mr. D from humorously saying he should lick it for scrapes.

Funniest thing was? Tantalus did just that. Or at least tried to. Unfortunately, his punishment apparently didn't let him do that much and the bone quite literally came to life and tumbled away from him.

Andi figured that was just the start of it, as Hunter had a wicked sense of humor. Like that time he peed on the Dursley's couch while they had been gone on a vacation and had as usual abandoned her at Privet Drive to "watch the house".

The golden dog did plenty of little things to annoy the damned spirit throughout the week, but it was the last one that was most memorable.

He grew to the size of an elephant and chased Tantalus during a game of catch gone awry. The Stolls were in on the prank and had coated a tennis ball in some kind of Hermes special glue and beamed the spirit in the head. So, Hunter loving catch, went after it. Terrified out of his wits, Tantalus fled while crying for help, but 'accidentally' ran right into a super sized pile of _presents_ Hunter had left ever so conveniently unburied while doing so.

Ever see a dude stuck in a giant mud pie? Well, everyone at camp did. Many were suggesting making it the bead for the summer.

The daughter of Zeus was as entertained by Hunter's antics as the other campers but she also knew that Tantalus was not going to take things lying down. He was undoubtedly plotting some kind of revenge. That had her more than a little worried to be honest.

And she had every right to be when Tantalus put Hunter under doggy house arrest in Cabin One. He declared that if he stepped a single paw outside to do anything besides answering nature's call, Andi would be punished with a whole slew of chores.

The arse.

Personally, she thought he just couldn't handle being played like a fool by a dog.

It didn't stop her from ordering Hunter to stay in her Cabin though. She'd more than enough experience with extra chores last year and wasn't looking for a repeat.

She didn't like doing it to Hunter, but she really didn't have much of a choice.

* * *

Things were starting to become too much for Andi. Between the issues with Tantalus, the constant attacks by the monsters and the poor reaction the campers were having towards her were wearing her down. So a few days after Annabeth had returned to Camp she sought out her friend to talk to her in the hope that the daughter of Athena would offer her some help.

The daughter of Zeus found her friend pretty busy working with her cabin for the upcoming chariot race.

Guided by one of Annabeth's younger siblings that had met her at the door, Andi walked to the back of the shrine to learning that was Cabin Six, and saw what looked like a mini construction site. All they were missing were the forklifts and cranes.

The noise was deafening though so Andi waited for a lull in the construction to call out to her friend. The opportunity presented itself when a band saw - one of the biggest sources of noise - was turned off.

"Hey guys." She greeted cheerfully.

At her greeting, Andi suddenly found herself the focus of a sea of grey eyes. Some suspicious, others annoyed, in fact Annabeth was the only friendly one among the whole grumpy group of Athena's children.

 _No surprise there._ Andi mused as she struggled to maintain a cheery facade instead of frowning angrily in return at their hostility. _Cabin Six has been the loudest when it came to complaining about how I've led camp so far._

Not like one of them bothered to step up to try and do better.

"Andi, shouldn't you be working on your chariot?" Annabeth said, a pencil nestled behind her left ear, a black pen behind the right as she held a pair of chariot blueprints in her hands. One looked downright ancient, probably some kind of reference, while the second was on more modern paper and was likely the plan they were following.

"Castor and Pollux are busy." By that Andi meant that they were busy doing their shift at the secret patrols of camp the campers had started behind Tantalus' back. Annabeth would understand though, since all other Camp activities at this time of the day had been cancelled by her brother to allow the Cabins to focus on preparing for the chariot races, the patrols were the only thing that the twins could be busy with.

"And you?" Annabeth asked, waving at her cabin mates to get back to work.

Andi released a breath she didn't know she was holding from all the stern gazes on her. She mustered her best smile for her friend. "We never really got to talk since you came back to camp. I thought we could, you know, catch up?"

Annabeth just raised a blonde brow, readily expressing what she was thinking: Right now?

Andi just nodded.

The daughter of Athena knitted her brow in thought, but nodded nonetheless. She told her brother Malcolm to take charge of the project for the moment, and declared that she was going to take a break and have a nice walk around camp with Andi.

"So, how was Virginia?" Andi asked. It wasn't really what she wanted to talk about, but seeing as Annabeth went back to her dad's place for the school year, the daughter of Zeus felt it was only polite to ask. Besides, she was genuinely curious.

"It's getting better. Still not great, but better. I had a demigod dream about camp being in trouble so I left early, but we agreed to try again next year. Hopefully things will be better then." The blonde said stiffly, clearly uncomfortable about talking about the strained relationship she had with her mortal family. It was therefore no surprise when she quickly changed the subject. "How was Hogwarts?"

She knew Annabeth was really asking about the whole Sirius affair, but that wasn't what she wanted to talk about. So she just gave her a curt reply. "The thing was… dealt with."

Annabeth was having none of it though and was looking at her questioning, so the daughter of Zeus decided to change subjects quick. "How are you feeling, about, you know." Her eyes darted towards Thalia's sickly pine tree.

Annabeth's grey eyes softened, looking at the tree as well. "I just can't believe someone would do that to her tree. It's sickening."

Andi didn't want to mention names, but pretty much everyone knew Luke was somehow involved.

Even she didn't want to think he would do this to a friend, but then again, he had played everyone else for chumps. Why not screw over an old mate in the process?

"So change of subject!" Andi declared in a bid to lift the mood. "I used time-travel. It was lame, totally didn't live up to my expectations as a Whovi-"

"You what!?" An incredulous Annabeth cut into Andi's rambling. "Don't you know whose domain you trespassed into by doing that?"

"Duh. Big bad Granddad's." Andi said dismissively. Well, there went a pleasant change of subjects.

"And you still did it!?"

"Didn't have much of a choice, I was basically forced into it." Andi explained. "Even ended up with a visit from Granddad thanks to it. He wasn't exactly thrilled about it."

Annabeth looked horrified at the revelation. "Did you tell Chiron about this?"

Andi blinked in surprise at this.

"I-I forgot all about it." She admitted, her cheeks pink in embarrassment. "With everything else that was going on, it… slipped my mind."

"Andi!" The daughter of Athena said in a frustrated groan. "Come on, we're going to talk to Mr. D about it right now!"

"If Dad's not even going to consider the possibility of Granddad being back, what makes you think Mr. D's going to listen to us?"

"You have to tell someone about this and since Chiron isn't here, Mr. D is our best bet."

"What about Tantalus?"

Annabeth just shot Andi a disbelieving look.

"What? Chain of command and all that." She muttered.

"He's useless, we need to go straight to a god."

"Hey! He's still my brother." Andi said slightly defensively. Sure she was developing issues with the guy, but he was still a brother that legitimately cared for her - at least he seemed to - so she wasn't gonna take anyone talking bad about him.

Even if they were right.

"Look, Andi-" Annabeth began but was cut off by Andi.

"Let's not fight over this. Let's just go see Mr. D." She grumbled, she still had things she wanted to talk about. "Promise we can talk more afterwards?"

"Yes, Andi." Annabeth said, but it sounded like she was only humoring her as they headed off to the Big House.

* * *

Roughly ten minutes later, the girls exited the Big House. Annabeth's face was etched with a look of surprise while Andi's face just screamed 'I Told You So'.

"I can't believe he just, just shut us down like that!" The grey eyed girl exclaimed as her face shifted into one with frustration written all over it.

"Like I said, if Dad's not going to care, why would Mr. D?" Andi asked as they walked off the patio, continuing their stroll.

"He showed up in your mind! If that's not evidence-"

"And he showed up in both mine and Percy's dreams last year, Dad just shrugged it off." Andi reminded her, making the blonde slump her shoulders in defeat.

The two friends walked in silence for a bit after that.

The silence was getting to Andi though as she was desperate to talk about the other stuff that she was having issues with.

"I got visited by Hecate." Andi blurted out, getting Annabeth to cock her head in interest. "She kinda made me her Champion."

Looking utterly surprised, Annabeth replied. "Andi, whoa, that's… that's just wow. What did she want?" She added, suspicion in her eyes.

Of course Annabeth would figure that part out. She was smart like that.

So Andi told her all about Hecate wanting her to be her champ because she was a magical child of Zeus, the free boon (How she had tried to help Thalia with it and how Hecate had refused, even giving a, in her opinion, bullshit reason why she couldn't. Annabeth looked thoughtful at that.), and what she asked for afterwards.

At hearing what Andi had asked for as her boon, Annabeth shot her fellow demigoddess her best Athena glare. Andi wilted under the intense look, it was frankly terrifying and never failed to make her feel really tiny.

"Andi!" She outright shouted, getting some looks from passing campers. Seeing this, the daughter of wisdom lowered her voice, but it still held the ferocity of a scolding. "How could you- Are you really-?! Ugh!" She grabbed Andi's arm, dragging her some distance away from the well worn trail they had been strolling down and into the edge of the nearby woods where they could be alone.

"You do know you doomed them, right?" Annabeth explained simply. Her annoyed, yet pitying look made Andi's heart hammer against her ribcage.

"Your friends, Ron and Hermione? There is almost no chance in Hades that they'll be able to keep something like _our_ entire world a secret forever."

The taller girl shot Andi a disappointed look that made her feel like a failure.

"Even a little slip up and the Styx will gun for them. It may not kill them instantly, heck it may very well target those around them instead. But breaking an Oath on the Styx? It's like cancer, Andi. It could take years to kill them, torturing them the whole time until it's done punishing them."

With each passing second, from each word coming out of Annabeth's lips, Andi felt the guilt and sadness grow within her as she realized what she had done to her friends, the people she considered her family. Even as it grew to almost overwhelm her however she fought to keep her cool. She was not going to break down, that had never helped her in the past and it wouldn't now. As such all she allowed to show of her emotional turmoil was the odd tear and sniffle.

Leave it to Andi, the Lady of Epic Screw Ups to ruin the lives of everyone she cared about.

Still struggling to hold herself together, Andi began to hug herself tightly. Choking on her sadness, the daughter of Zeus managed to say, "Well, let's just hope the worst won't happen, right?"

Andi gave a faux smile, that was as empty as the sky child felt. Her tears began to flow freely now as her facade of strength began to crumble. "I, I just wanted them to understand me better. I swear!" She sobbed, hiccuping now as tears trailed down her cheeks.

Annabeth just peered at her with another pitying look that crushed Andi's waning strength. The blonde wrapped her in a soft hug, one Andi strongly returned as she sobbed into the crook of Annabeth's neck.

Petting her hair, the daughter of Athena said. "You can be so stupid." It wasn't an insult, just her stating a fact.

"I hope everything works out too." Annabeth said a moment later, the skepticism in her voice making it clear how unlikely she thought that hopeful outcome was. Andi just cried harder at that.

After giving her a few minutes to let it all out, Annabeth held Andi at arm's length, looking her over. The other girl's eyes were red and puffy, her cheeks stained with tear tracks, but at least she wasn't leaking snot. Andi had pulled herself back together.

"What's upsetting you, Andi? I don't think this is enough to make you cry. You're stronger than that."

"I," Andi bit her bottom lip as it quivered. "It's just everything that just keeps happening!"

The stress was getting to her. Andi, try as she may, just couldn't take keep it all bottled up anymore.

Which was her standard practice when the Fates dumped a heap of hot shite on her noggin.

But this time… It was just too much. One terrible thing after another kept happening to her in the past few weeks. Learning what she'd done to Ron and Hermione was just the straw that broke the camel's back and pushed her over the edge.

Now that the dam had burst, Andi couldn't stop herself as she began to rant about all her problems as of late. She began with Thalia's poisoning, and how scared it made her feel. Not just because Thalia might die, but also because it reminded her just how dangerous things were for her too. She was a demigod and that was bad enough, but she was a daughter of Zeus to boot and that was an even bigger bullseye painted on her head. Look at Thalia, even as a tree people were still going out of their way to kill her. Annabeth tried to comfort her by explaining to her that the poisoner probably wasn't targeting Thalia because she was a daughter of Zeus, but Andi told her she knew that but that it didn't help with what she felt.

Annabeth looked like she was ready to argue the point further, but Andi wouldn't let her. She was on a roll, gods dammit, and she was not going to stop until she finished getting all her frustrations out in the open. With that in mind, she cut her blonde friend off before she could say a word and told her about the way the campers were treating her after all she'd done in leading them in protecting the camp from monsters. It was thanks to _her_ that no monsters had gotten through so far.

She's been scraping together ideas from the handful of spellbooks that some of Hecate's kids had left behind in Cabin Eleven just to learn new spells that could be of help.

She'd even ended up utterly embarrassing herself by crashing into bales of hay experimenting with one of those spells.

And what did she get in return?

Angry looks and campers unwilling to listen to her.

Andi looked up at her friend, a sense of self-righteous anger surging through her veins. "I mean, I try to be a good leader, but I'm not smart like you, Bethy. I'm not inspirational like FDR. But I led them to victory! That's gotta earn me some respect."

"Andi," Annabeth cut her off sternly, squeezing her shoulders gently. "Stop. First, don't compare yourself to other people. Second, get off your high horse."

"What!?" Andi recoiled in shock, pulling away from Annabeth's hold.

"I'm sorry to say this, but someone has to, so I'm going to. Andi, you're a terrible leader."

"Am not! I've kept camp safe!" The daughter of Zeus retorted heatedly.

"By beating the monsters yourself! Not by leading the other campers into battle." Annabeth retorted sternly. "I've asked around. Every time there's been a fight you're rushed in with barely any concern for the other campers, either in your squad or otherwise."

"We still won, didn't we?"

"That's besides the point!" Annabeth shouted exasperatedly. "You might have won, but you've also sent plenty of them to the infirmary with your recklessness. That's not something a good leader should do!"

The daughter of Zeus just glared at her friend mutinously. A part of her, a small part, knew Annabeth was right, but her pride wasn't going to let her admit it.

"Look, Andi, the campers," Annabeth said with a sigh as she crossed her arms. Her grey eyes fixed on her the shorter girl's defiant blue ones. "They aren't big fans of your gloryhound style of 'leadership'."

The disgusted way Annabeth said the word 'leadership' left little doubt to her opinion on Andi's skill at command.

"You're leaving more people injured than you are keeping safe, Andi. And people don't like to get hurt." She repeated.

Andi still wasn't ready to accept this fact, so she changed the subject slightly. "So what? You want me to change how I lead entirely? How am I supposed to do that? I can't exactly help myself on the battlefield."

"Then maybe you shouldn't lead at all." Annabeth suggested in as kind a tone as Andi had ever heard from her, but which still held that steely edge that told the daughter of the skies that she was deadly serious.

That hit Andi like a bag of wet cement.

Leading was in her blood right? She was a child of Zeus, she was _supposed_ to be good at leading.

At least that's what she had been told, what she had hoped.

Fear crept upon her frail pride and she could only answer with. "I-I'll think on that." She wanted to desperately change topics, because her feelings were raging inside her right now as she desperately tried to figure out how to deal with this new problem.

Annabeth however wasn't done.

"Everyone has different strengths. Focus on that, not the negatives." The daughter of Athena offered. "So you're not a good leader. That just means you need to find something that you _are_ good at."

Andi just turned away, unhappy with and largely unwilling to accept that. It was just such a cliched thing to say in the situation at hand.

Things couldn't be so simple, could it?

Even if part of her, a growing part, realised that Annabeth was right. That didn't really help her though.

"But what am I supposed to be good at?" Andi managed out, confusion filling her head. She pointed to herself. "I mean, if I'm not a leader, what am I?" She asked as she threw her hands in the air out of frustration. "You're like the perfect example of Cabin Six, right? You've got your mum's brains and skill with crafts. Me? I, I gotta be more than my powers, right?"

Andi had no idea who she was.

To the Dursleys, she was a servant girl who free-loaded off them.

To the Wizarding World, she was the Girl-Who-Lived, some fairytale.

To the world of gods, she was the daughter of Zeus.

But who was Andi, to Andi?

As Andi ranted, Annabeth could only frown. "Andi, that's the whole point of growing up, isn't it? Finding out who you really are? Maybe it's time you stopped being a little kid trying to be who other people want you to be and grow up and figure out who _you_ want to be instead."

"But how?" Andi said, feeling ready to pull her hair out.

"I'm sorry, Andi. But there's no ready answer to that." The daugher of wisdom said apologetically. "You'll have to figure that out on your own."

Seeing the confusion on her friend's face, Annabeth continued, "Just know that as your friend, I'll be here supporting you while you figure things out."

Andi moved over to a stump and sat on it, feeling drained. Rubbing her eyes, she asked tiredly. "Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of." Annabeth said after a moment of thought. "You? Anything else you want to talk about, Andi?"

"Nope." Andi replied after a moment.

"Then you okay to head back?" Annabeth asked carefully, obviously worried that Andi was still an emotional mess. Which she was, but she had enough of a handle on it for the moment that it shouldn't be a problem.

She hoped.

"Argh. Now I have to go back to dealing with the annoyed campers." Andi whined as she got up to leave.

"Well, while I might not be able to help you with figuring out who you are, I can help you there. At least a little." Annabeth offered.

Andi turned to Annabeth at that and cocked a brow questioningly.

"You can start to win them over by not being so nice to Tantalus." Annabeth offered. "You know everyone hates him."

"I'm not being nice to him."

Annabeth just raised a skeptical brow.

"Ok, so a little bit. But like I said he's my brother."

The daughter of Zeus sighed at that, "You do know the terrible things he did, right?"

Andi nodded and explained what Tantalus had said about why he had done it, before adding her own opinion on it. "I don't entirely believe him. But what he said makes enough sense that I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt."

"That's why you were all on his side in the beginning?"

"I didn't know then and he was nice to me." Annabeth shot her a sympathetic look at that. The daughter of Athena was one of only a few people who understood just how much Andi wanted to have a family member who treated her well.

The daughter of Zeus brushed her eyes, sweeping away another batch of tears before they had a chance to properly fall. "But why should I be surprised? I mean, why be nice to her unless you need something from dumb ol' Andi."

"Well, at least you've learned your lesson?" Annabeth offered kindly.

The child of Zeus nodded miserably. "Not that it's helped me yet. I've kept away from him after I found out about how much of a creep he is, but no one's letting it go. I mean sure, he's always trying to favor me but I've tried to not let him. Yet everyone is still giving me the cold shoulder."

"The problem with that Andi, is that you're still preening whenever he praises you." Annabeth explained.

Her beaten ego objecting, she muttered. "I think I deserve some of-"

Annabeth cut her off, saying. "That doesn't matter, not to the campers. All they see is you being Tantalus' little pet."

Blanching, Andi said. "That sounds gross."

"It was the best thing I could think of comparing it to." The blonde told her apologetically. "Seriously though, that's one of the things that are holding you back. Cut him off completely, Andi."

She gave a nod, determined to change. "I'll try my best, Bethy."

"I know you will." The child of wisdom gave her a smile.

Andi chewed her bottom lip and gave Annabeth a quick hug. "Thanks for letting me vent. And, all the other stuff too." She let go, taking a few steps back.

Annabeth shrugged and look exasperated. "That's what good friends do for each other."

Andi blinked in confusion at that. Ron and Hermione never really let her vent much, if at all. They usually just rushed her into solving whatever problem caused her the distress in the first place.

This felt way better to be honest.

Still smiling, though a little sadly, which was odd, in Andi's opinion, Annabeth took her leave to go back to helping with her Cabin's chariot.

Andi waved her away enthusiastically before heading back to her own Cabin. Maybe Castor and Pollux were back and they could work on their chariot.

* * *

The day of the race was getting close.

During the final days of the week, things had gone all rotten for Andi.

Not only did she have to deal with the stress of building a chariot with Cabin Twelve, she also had to deal with a whole new set of issues created by Tantalus. He had really upped his game when messing with the other campers lately, forcing Andi - who couldn't stand bullying, at all - to step in to stop it each time.

But Tantalus would always respond by just stepping back from his victim and singing condescending praises of her like how fair she was, or how she was so generous, or how wise she was in coming up with a solution that meant he didn't need to "punish" someone. After that, the creep would leave the scene smiling and campers would just give her sour looks.

She'd bet good money that the whole thing was a ploy by the damn spirit to make the campers hate her or something.

Now, if only she knew why he wanted that. Maybe then she could figure out a way to turn the tables on him.

As things stood, all she managed so far was to end up looking like the bad guy. And that was starting to make her wonder why she even bothered to try helping people in the first place.

As if all this wasn't bad enough, the growing distrust the campers had of her was starting to greatly affect Andi's secret patrols. Less and less people wanted to team up with her when her turn came up. Even Katie had been kind of distant and that really hurt Andi.

On more than one occasion, she had no one but Hunter for company. Which caused its own fair share of trouble since she needed to come up with an excuse each time just in case they were caught by Tantalus. She couldn't after all always rely on saying that he really needed to go due to some bad food he ate.

Her dog seemed to be the only one trying to cheer her up these days, once he had even fetched her a rabbit he caught. She thanked him, but waved off the bunny carcass.

Andi could only hope things got better.

* * *

On the day before the chariot race, the campers were all rushing to prepare.

Andi was no exception. Behind Cabin One, amidst wood planks, power saws, and celestial bronze hubs, axles, and blades, she and the Dionysus twins were working on finishing their chariot for the race tomorrow.

Andi had no one to team up with for the race, so she had asked her friends from Cabin Twelve if they wanted to work together.

The twins weren't initially going to race, but after some convincing, they agreed.

The bad thing was, none of them were really builders unlike Cabin Nine or Cabin Six.

So they worked with some old schematic that Annabeth offered them and went from there. The twins did most of the heavy lifting while Andi used what magic she knew to help wherever possible.

Not that Hogwarts had a magic shop class so she wasn't really much help sadly.

Personally, Andi thought they were doing pretty good for three kids not used to handling a sandblaster and barely knew their way around a wrench.

Andi looked at the chariot as a whole. It was elevated on two cinder blocks with only one wheel attached at the moment. It was royal purple in color to help represent Dionysus and her Dad, along with a large eagle holding grapes painted on the front.

Or at least that's what it was supposed to look like.

"Does it look like a chicken?" She asked worriedly, for about the fifth time, as she tilted her head to examine her work.

"Does it matter? We need to get the last wheel on." An annoyed Pollux shot back.

"And the axle blades." Castor added.

His brother nodded. "And the axle blades."

Andi had redone the eagle about four times now. Along the way cursing the fact she didn't know any magic that could have helped her. She had managed to change the base color with a flick of her wrist, thanks to the Color Change Charm she'd learned in her First Year at Hogwarts. It had made that part of painting their chariot practically effortless and they managed to try out three different colors before they made their final choices. Unfortunately, without any spells to help, Andi had been forced to hand paint the eagle. Which was a very time consuming affair.

Her obsession with getting the eagle right had combined with their secret patrols and tight schedules to leave the trio behind the other cabins in terms of their work on their respective chariots.

"I just want us to look cool." Andi confessed. She had taken a peek at some of the other chariots, and they were really impressive. She was determined not to lose out to them on that front.

"It doesn't matter, the chi-eagle," Pollux corrected, "looks fine. Come on, we only have a little more daylight."

Andi felt upset at that and was about to retort, but Castor cut her off.

"Andi, forget the bird. Do you want to be able to race or not?" He said, picking up the other wheel and pushing it onto the axle.

"Or course."

"Then we need to finish the chariot. So forget the paint job, and grab a wrench."

For a moment, she wanted to continue to argue but the looks on the twins' faces stopped her. They were very obviously almost at the end of their tolerance with her. Sighing in frustration, she knelt down, snagged a wrench and started to help tighten the bolts they needed to secure the last wheel. As she worked the tool, Andi muttered. "Really wish I knew more magic for carpentry then we wouldn't be so far behind."

"Andi, stop whining." Pollux chided from where he was tightening another bolt on the other side of the wheel.

Again Andi felt the urge to argue but quashed it. The looks on her friends' faces hadn't changed, they were still very clearly not happy with her right now. She knew arguing with them now would just start a fight. That wasn't something they needed the day before the race.

As the minutes ticked the trio moved onto working on the axle blades and as she worked in the tense silence, Andi slowly began to realise just how silly she had been worrying over a damn picture. Especially when Castor and Pollux continued sweating it out assembling the rest of the chariot while she got distracted by the paint. She could really start to see how her behavior bothered people, even her own friends.

 _Come on, you had that talk with Annabeth. You know people are kinda annoyed with you and for good reason. So you gotta start toning it down if you want to keep the few mates you've got left. And hopefully change the others' opinions of you too._

She winced as the distraction led her to accidentally nicking her finger on the blade she was helping to install. The twins looked at her with concern, but she waved it away. "I'm fine guys." The boys nodded and were about to turn back to their tasks but Andi stopped them by continuing, "And sorry for being kind of a pain."

They just nodded and said nothing of it, choosing to just get back to work.

* * *

The morning of the race was hot and humid. Fog lay low on the ground like a morning in London. So much so that if not for the heat, Andi would have thought she was back in the UK.

Millions of birds were roosting in the trees—fat gray-and-white pigeons, except they didn't coo like regular pigeons. They made this annoying metallic screeching sound that hurt Andi's sensitive ears. She hoped it wouldn't affect her in the race too much.

Speaking of the race, its track had been built in a grassy field between the archery range and the woods.

Hephaestus' cabin had used the bronze bulls, which were completely tame since they'd had their heads smashed in, to plow an oval track in a matter of minutes.

They had even built rows of stone steps for the spectators. Cabin Nine never ceased to amaze Andi with just what they could build and how fast they could do it. As the time for the race drew near, the stands began to fill up as Tantalus, the satyrs, a few dryads, and all of the campers who weren't participating took their seats. Mr. D didn't show. He never got up before ten o'clock.

That seemed to bum Castor and Pollux big time, though they seemed to cheer up a little when they spotted a leopard slink its way through the bushes at the edge of the woods watching the track intently all the while.

"Right!" Tantalus announced as the teams began to assemble. A naiad had brought him a big platter of pastries, and as Tantalus spoke, his right hand chased a chocolate eclair across the judge's table. "You all know the rules. A quarter-mile track. Twice around to win. Two horses per chariot. Each team will consist of a driver and a fighter. Weapons are allowed. Dirty tricks are expected. But try not to kill anybody!" Tantalus smiled at them like they were all naughty children. "Any killing will result in harsh punishment. No s'mores at the campfire for a week! Now ready your chariots!"

"Oh no, the horror." Andi said mockingly to Castor, who sniggered. They would be manning their team's chariot. Castor as driver and Andi as fighter.

Beckendorf led the Hephaestus team onto the track. They had a wicked ride made of bronze and iron—even the horses, which were magical automatons like the Colchis bulls. The thing probably had all kinds of mechanical traps and more fancy options than the latest sports car.

The Ares chariot was blood-red, and pulled by two grisly skeletal horses. Clarisse climbed aboard with a veritable armory's worth of javelins, spiked balls, caltrops, and a bunch of other nasty toys.

Apollo's chariot was trim and graceful and completely gold, pulled by two beautiful palominos. Their fighter was armed with a bow, though he had promised not to shoot regular pointed arrows at the opposing drivers. Andi quickly pointed out to Castor that he hadn't said anything about the opposing fighters and they'd better keep away from them just in case.

Hermes's chariot was green and kind of old-looking, as if it hadn't been out of the garage in years. It didn't look like anything special, but it was manned by the Stoll brothers, and Andi just knew that it was packed to the gills with every kind of dirty trick they could come up with.

Next was the chariot Andi and Cabin twelve had worked together to build. It may not have looked as professional as the others, but it still looked better than Hermes'. It was far lighter than the those of their competitors' too, but there was a reason for that. A little trick that Andi had come up with and the team were hoping would give them the edge they needed to win. It was pulled by a pair of golden brown hippogriffs that Andi named Silver and Quell. They had arrived the day after she had prayed to her dad for something to pull the chariot.

Zeus may be distant most of the time, but he could be pretty thoughtful once in awhile.

Annabeth was in charge of Athena's chariot that was grey with white columns arching all around it and an menacing owl head painted onto the front facing portion of its main body. It was pulled by a pair of brown horses that looked kind of ticked off.

Percy and Tyson were in a blue and white chariot with pictures of waves and a trident stamped on the front. Percy was holding the reins for a pair of blond coated stallions while Tyson was armed with a mean looking ten foot pole.

As the chariots lined up, more shiny-eyed pigeons gathered in the woods. They were screeching so loudly the campers in the stands were starting to take notice, glancing nervously at the trees, which shivered under the weight of the birds.

Andi winced at the noise, drawing a look of concern from Castor but Andi just gave him a thumbs up. She could handle this.

She wasn't the only one who seemed unbothered by the strange birds. Tantalus didn't either, in fact he barely even seemed to notice that they were there. The only sign that he did was that he spoke up to be heard over the racket they were creating.

"Charioteers!" he shouted. "Attend your mark!"

He waved his hand and the starting signal dropped. The chariots roared to life. Hooves thundered against the dirt. The crowd cheered.

Almost immediately there was a loud nasty crack! Andi looked back in time to see the Apollo chariot flip over. The Hermes chariot had rammed into it—probably on purpose. The riders were thrown free, but their panicked horses dragged the golden chariot diagonally across the track.

The Hermes team, Travis and Connor Stoll, were laughing at their good luck, but not for long. The Apollo horses crashed into theirs, and the Hermes chariot flipped too, leaving a pile of broken wood and four rearing horses in the dust.

Two chariots down in the first twenty feet.

 _Man, this is why I fly, at least then you don't have collisions like this._ Andi shook her head as Castor kept reining the hippogriffs in. The two majestic creatures wanted to pelt down the track at their top speed, but doing that would be opposite to the plan that Andi and the twins had thought up.

Their strategy was to hold back and let everyone else pick each other off. And then, sweep right in for the win.

Returning her attention to the front, Andi saw that Annabeth was in first place, while Percy was pulling ahead of Clarisse to capture second place. Beckendorf was closing in on them though and shot out three sets of balls and chains once he was on Percy's side.

Thankfully, Tyson saved Percy's butt from wrecking by whacking them away like a pro golfer.

With that distraction out of the way, Poseidon's Cabin started to pull away from both Ares and Hephaestus and closed on Athena. Malcolm, Annabeth's fighter, tried to fend them off with a barrage of javelins but Tyson handily dealt with them.

It seemed like Percy was about to take the lead when all of a sudden Tyson stopped trying to harass their competition and started pointing at the woods feveriously for some reason.

Andi had barely turned to take a look at what had him so agitated when all of a sudden Hurricane Pigeon started to head for the track. The swarm of birds flew in circles like a tornado in a way that struck Andi as odd.

"Andi, up front!" Castor shouted in warning as Clarisse's fighter tossed spiked balls in front of them and Andi gripped the edges of her chariot. "Hold on!" She said and cried out. "Jump!"

At her order, the hippogriffs opened their wings and she controlled the air around their chariot. Combined the two effects were just perfect to allow them to hop over the obstacle with ease, making Andi beam and Castor cheer.

It was her idea since she doubted anyone could really take advantage of such a manoeuvre. She basically made an updraft to lift the hippogriffs, and themselves, into the air for a moment.

As long as they didn't literally fly, they weren't breaking the rules of the race. Andi had checked to make sure of that.

Not that the race was foremost in Andi's mind at the moment. "Castor, the birds!"

Almost as soon as the words left Andi's mouth, the screaming started. Turning towards the sound, the duo watched in shock as the massive flock of pigeons attacked —thousands of them dive-bombing the spectators in the stands, and attacking the other chariots. Beckendorf was mobbed. His fighter tried to bat the birds away but he couldn't see anything. The chariot veered off course and plowed through the strawberry fields, the mechanical horses steaming.

In the Ares chariot, Clarisse barked an order to her fighter, who quickly threw a screen of camouflage netting over their basket. The birds swarmed around it, pecking and clawing at the fighter's hands as he tried to hold up the net, but Clarisse just gritted her teeth and kept driving. Her skeletal horses seemed immune to the distraction. The pigeons pecked uselessly at their empty eye sockets and flew through their rib cages, but the stallions kept right on running.

The spectators weren't so lucky. The birds were slashing at any bit of exposed flesh, driving everyone into a panic. Now that the birds were closer, it was clear they weren't normal pigeons.

Their eyes were beady and evil-looking. Their beaks were made of bronze, and judging from the yelps of the campers, they must've been razor sharp.

Andi figured out what they were in a second.

"Stymphalian birds!" Annabeth yelled out before Andi herself could, even as she pulled her chariot to a stop next to Percy's. The two seemed to be working on a plan.

 _Good, I'll leave them to it. In the meantime I'll do what I can._

"Castor, those birds will strip everyone to bones if we don't do something." The son of Dionysius paled at that. "I'm gonna help the spectators at the stands. Stay safe."

Her friend nodded but Andi didn't pay him any mind, instead taking to the air, abandoning her chariot and thus forfeiting the race.

Inhaling deeply, Andi released her Canary Cry into a large crowd of the Stymphalian birds, it seemed to make them punch drunk causing them to fly around erratically and crashing into each other and the ground.

"Get 'em!" She heard Castor shout as she fired off another Cry towards a second flock that was tearing the clothes and pulling the hair of a group from Cabin Ten.

The monstrous avians weren't completely stupid however and seeing that her Cry had a limited area of effect, were scattering into smaller groups to limit her ability to hurt then. Thankfully, this served to make them less of a threat as the smaller numbers in their attacking flocks made them easier to fend off.

 _Come on, they're adapting? Stupid birds._ Andi mentally cursed even as she took a deep breathe for another Cry. She was just about to let loose when three of the birds swooped towards her with their talons poised to tear into her. She just fired her building Cry directly at them, disorienting them and leaving them easy pickings for her as she slashed them to ribbons with Skyline.

Clarisse had just pulled across the finish line, completely unopposed, and seemed to notice for the first time how serious the bird problem was.

When she saw Percy and Annabeth driving away, she yelled, "You're running? The fight is here, cowards!" The idiot then drew her sword and charged for the stands.

While this was going on, Tantalus chased breakfast pastries around the stands, every once in awhile yelling, "Everything's under control! Not to worry.'"

Andi's eyes were ping ponging around, trying to find the larger clusters of the monsters. In between breaths, she contemplated helping the downed campers, but heard someone from Cabin Five shout at her. "Cry! I need a Cry here!"

Biting back the urge to help a camper getting his hair ripped out, she nodded grimly as she realised that he was right. She could do the most help with her Cry, not by wasting the precious breath she needed to use that power saving individual campers.

She felt the air coiling around her fingertips, just ready to sweep away the monsters like they were nothing, but the problem was they were everywhere. They were all so mixed up with the campers that if she tried to use her powers, she'd probably hurt most of the campers in the process.

She heard caws behind her and whirled around, wind claws springing from her fingers as she lacerated two more birds and Cry'd again, leaving them at the mercy of campers from Cabin Six to mop up. Unfortunately, this left her open to the veritable swarm of birds that unexpectedly dove at her from all angles. Just before the monsters could descend on her and start clawing away, a well placed cluster of javelins shot up from the ground, nailing a good number of them and scared away the rest.

She looked down stunned at Castor and the other racers picking up missiles from their chariots, helping her out.

Andi felt a smile creeping along her face as she jumped right back into the fray, doing the best she could.

She was just turning back to launch another Cry into the wheeling flocks of monstrous pigeons when Percy and Annabeth burst back onto the scene. Percy was holding a boombox over his head as Dean Martin of all things began to play loudly.

Suddenly the air was filled with violins and a bunch of guys moaning in Italian.

Hearing it, Andi yelped, she moved to cover her sensitive ears as best she could but never got the chance. The moment of distraction as the unexpected and awful music sent ferocious pain ripping through her, broke her concentration and the building sonic energy she'd gathered for her Cry exploded out of her mouth. Completely unprepared, Andi couldn't direct the blast well, barely managing to avoid hitting any campers and failing to use her powers to brace herself. As a result, she was sent tumbling towards the ground.

Thankfully, Quell took to the air and caught her with his talons. For being able to rend the flesh off bone, the hippogriff's terrible claws were surprisingly gentle as they grabbed onto her shoulders.

She was grateful for the save and turned to watch in surprise as the demon pigeons went nuts. They started flying in circles, running into each other like they wanted to brain themselves. Then they abandoned the track altogether and flew skyward in a huge dark wave.

Andi looked down to see Annabeth shouting something and the archers lining up their bows in response.

With clear targets, the archers' arrows took flight. Within minutes, the ground was littered with dead bronze-beaked pigeons, and the survivors were a distant trail of smoke on the horizon.

Quell placed the daughter of Zeus on the ground and she was pleased that the music had stopped.

Seriously, Dean Martin was so in her top five worst musicians now.

The camp was saved, but the wreckage wasn't pretty. Most of the chariots had been completely destroyed. Almost everyone was wounded, bleeding from multiple bird pecks. The kids from Aphrodite's cabin were screaming because their hairdos had been ruined and their clothes pooped on.

"Bravo!" Tantalus said, but he wasn't looking at any of the devastation around him or the campers working hard to make sure the injured were taken care of. "We have our first winner!"

He walked to the finish line and awarded the golden laurels for the race to a stunned-looking Clarisse.

Then he turned and smiled at Percy intently. "And now to punish the troublemakers who disrupted this race."

 _Of all the dirty, rotten-! The bloody coward!_ Andi silently fumed, her knuckles turning white as she shook her tiny fists. _All he did was chase after snacks when we were fighting for their lives. And now he has the gall to pretend the whole thing didn't happen and just hand out the prize for his stupid race?_

Unwilling to watch more of the farce, Andi turned to check out what happened to her chariot and the other racers. When she spotted her mangled chariot, Andi couldn't help but feel sad at the demise of her and Cabin Twelve's hard work. Castor walked towards her, Pollux rushing towards them both -sporting some scratches but was thankfully mostly unharmed- asking if the two racers were okay.

Castor smiled at his twin. "Yeah, I'm good. Andi?"

"I'm fine," She assured her friends even as she continued to look forlornly at the chariot. "Sorry about the chariot guys. We worked so hard, and just… I know it's ironic, but I'm starting to hate birds."

Silver and Quell squawked indignantly.

"Not you guys!" She hastily corrected herself. "Monster birds."

Silver just chirped.

"Oh come on, don't be like that!" Andi pouted.

Hippogriffs, what a prideful bunch.

The twins looked to each other, smiling, and looked back to Andi with a mischievous glint in their eyes.

"Can you stop with the secret conversation, not all of us speak avian." Pollux couldn't help but tease.

"I know, she always does this with Silver and Quell nowadays. I feel left out." Castor played along.

"I think she likes them better than us."

The two hippogriffs cawed in mock triumph.

"Guys!" Andi whined, pouting at all of them now.

That just made the two break into sniggers and the birds chirp merrily.

Still, Andi found herself smiling too now. But that look changed into one of disappointment as she once again looked at the chariot. "I guess we lost huh?"

Castor just nudged her shoulder with his.

"Yep, we did. But that doesn't really matter." He explained and pointed to the other campers, who were helping each other. "You jumping in like that to help people? I'd say that's way better than winning some race."

The child of the sky looked surprised and her eyes glimmered with happiness.

 _You know, I like this_. Andi realized as she smiled at her friends. _I like this a lot more than even when everyone was hailing me as a hero after the quest last year. This kinda acknowledgement that I did the right thing helping people, feels great._

* * *

 **I think the second title to this chapter is: Character Development! And boy, did Andi get it!**

 **Yes, Andi, a child of Zeus, is not a good leader. Guys, here's the thing… She's a fourteen year old girl that started to take charge of a group of superhuman child soldiers. Now, when I was fourteen, the only thing I was in charge of was my troops in StarCraft, which I suck at. So, Andi doing this with no training in the art of leadership? Factor in her attention seeking nature? Ha! I laugh at you good sirs and ladies. She's a daughter of Zeus you say? Come on, genes aren't everything. Not everything is passed on. Yeah, no, not happening. #Lamesause, I know. Will this change? Maybe, maybe not. We know, you don't!**

 **Andi got a lot of things off her chest this time. We used Annie like somewhat of a guide/confidant for our little girl. Hey, all of us need a good buddy to confide in. She's trying her best to be blunt and steer Andi to be the hero she knows she can be.**

 **Nameless: So… This chapter like E4E said had a ton of character development for Andi, huh? Andi broke down and finally had someone tell her in her face that she needs to stop trying to be something she's not. And because of that, and other stuff, she's really looking at herself deeply and discovering things that are both good (that she likes to help people) and bad (that she can be an annoying brat). This is only the beginning though, she'll take these lessons to heart and grow because of them. What she'll become though? Well, that's for us to know and you to read and find out.**

 **Hope you like the chariot race. With the hippogriffs and the 'air hop', we felt it fit rather well with all the dangerous toys those kiddies were toting around.**

 **Nameless: I was toying around with making Will be Andi's driver and giving their chariot a solar laser for lulz. But that was too OP so we nixed it.**

 **Ha! Please, solar laser. You hear this guy? If anything, they should have slapped a Bass Cannon on that thing! Dubstep beam FTW. Fanfare!**

 **Nameless: Yeah, we came up with crazy ideas.**

 **So, leave us a review and tell us what you think! No flames now, and peace off!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.**

 **The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans**

 **Chapter Three: We Better Not Sing Like Ariel**

 **Beta: ShadowofAxios**

* * *

That night at the campfire, Apollo's cabin led the sing-along. They tried to get everybody's spirits up, but it wasn't easy after that afternoon's bird attack. They all sat around the semicircle of stone steps, singing halfheartedly and watching the bonfire blaze while the Apollo guys strummed their guitars and picked their lyres.

They did all the standard camp numbers: "Down by the Aegean," "I Am My Own Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandpa," "This Land is Minos's Land." The enchanted bonfire that reflected the mood of the crowd was only five feet high, barely warm, and the flames were a disgusting, dull gray color.

Dionysus left early. After suffering through a few songs, he muttered something about how even pinochle with Chiron had been more exciting than this, gave Tantalus a distasteful look and headed back toward the Big House.

Quite a few campers were of the same mind it seemed, and dozens snuck back to their Cabins. Such that by the last song, only a couple dozen campers remained.

Undeterred by this, Tantalus stood to announce something about the next day's schedule when he was interrupted by Percy with the suggestion to go after the Golden Fleece to save camp. Her arse of a brother tried to dismiss the idea and not even Annabeth standing up to back Percy by giving the Fleece's exact coordinates in the Sea of Monsters swayed him.

The campers didn't agree though and they, Andi included, took up a chant, "We need a quest! We need a quest!"

The flames of the bonfire rising in height and intensity at their growing enthusiasm.

However, even as she chanted, the daughter of Zeus couldn't help but feel bummed.

It was pretty obvious by now that she wasn't picked for this quest by the gods.

Usually that happened in three ways. The most common way the gods picked someone to do stuff was that whenever there was a quest or something important, they would send a demigod a dream to tell them about it.

Percy had that one covered thanks to his weird dream about Grover.

Another way a demigod got chosen was if they came up with it themselves. Planning out a mission that would benefit Camp or the gods and getting approval from the Camp directors to carry it out. When this happened, it was assumed that they were divinely inspired.

Annabeth had done that. She'd dreamed up the idea of using the Fleece to save Thalia.

If neither of the two things happened, then sometimes, rarely, a quest got started because a god just showed up and got some demigod to go do something for them.

It didn't look like this was the case this time. Andi's dad hadn't said a single word to her, at all.

But Andi was fine with not being 'selected by the gods' for this quest. There was after all a third more mundane way to get selected for a quest, being picked by one of the questers who were to go along. She'd be satisfied so long as _she_ was on the quest. Andi had to make sure Thalia survived, and make sure that her home survived too.

While Andi had been musing however, it seemed Tantalus had lost his cool.

"Fine!" The damned spirit shouted, his eyes blazing with anger. "You brats want me to assign a quest?"

"YES!" The campers roared.

"Very well," he agreed, a sly smile spreading across his face. "I shall authorize a champion to undertake this perilous journey, to retrieve the Golden Fleece and bring it back to camp. Or die trying."

Andi was sure that Percy was going to be picked. After all, it was obvious the gods had chosen him already. And that got her worried. If Percy was picked, then he'd take Annabeth for sure. Would he take her as the third quester? Ever since their talk about Tyson they weren't exactly on the best of terms.

"I will allow our champion to consult the Oracle!" Tantalus announced, pulling Andi out of her worries. "And choose two companions for the journey. And I think the choice of champion is obvious."

Tantalus looked at Annabeth and Percy as if he wanted to flay them alive. "The champion should be one who has earned the camp's respect, who has proven resourceful in the chariot races and courageous in the defense of the camp. You shall lead this quest … Clarisse!"

The fire flickered a thousand different colors. The Ares cabin started stomping and cheering,

"CLARISSE! CLARISSE!"

Clarisse stood up, looking stunned. Then she swallowed, and her chest swelled with pride. "I accept the quest!"

Percy began to protest, pointing out that the dream had come to him, but the Ares cabin shouted him down.

Clarisse glared at Percy. "I accept the quest!" she repeated. "I, Clarisse, daughter of Ares, will save the camp!"

The Ares campers cheered even louder. Annabeth protested, and the other Athena campers joined in. Everybody else started taking sides—shouting and arguing and throwing marshmallows. It was going to turn into a full-fledged s'more war until Tantalus shouted, "Silence, you brats!"

Tantalus proceeded to tell his tale and subtly threatened to "take revenge on ungrateful, rebellious children" to get everyone to accept his decision. When they did, he ordered Clarisse to go to the Oracle.

She shifted uncomfortably, like even she didn't want glory at the price of being Tantalus's pet. "Sir—"

"Go!" he snarled.

She bowed awkwardly and hurried off toward the Big House.

"What about you, Percy Jackson?" Tantalus asked. "No comments from our dishwasher?"

Good," Tantalus said when Percy did not reply. "And let me remind everyone— no one leaves this camp without my permission. Anyone who tries … well, if they survive the attempt, they will be expelled forever, but it won't come to that. The harpies will be enforcing curfew from now on, and they are always hungry! Good night, my dear campers. Sleep well."

Andi paid no attention to the drama as they were all dismissed and she headed back to her Cabin, her fists tightened, determination flickering in her eyes. She _had_ to go on this quest.

* * *

Leaning back against the wall of the Big House, Andi counted the minutes since the daughter of Ares had gone in. She was nervous, it was no big secret that Clarisse didn't like her, but Andi didn't care. She was going on this quest and she was going to do whatever it took to do so.

Finally after what felt like hours, Clarisse finally came out.

The moment Andi spotted her, she rushed forward to talk to her. She noted that the other girl looked shaken, even uncharacteristically nervous and on any other day that might have given her pause as she worried about what was troubling her. But not today. Not when something as important as Thalia's life was at stake.

"I want in!" Andi insisted without preamble.

Her opening line seemed to have confused Clarisse, who looked spacy. Shaking her head presumably to clear her confusion, the taller girl said. "What?"

"The quest. I'm joining."

Clarisse having seemingly recovered her bearings, glared at Andi.

"And why should I let you?"

"Because it's my sister's life at stake."

Clarisse looked skeptical and seemed ready to say something, probably something rude. But stopped herself before she uttered a sound and adopted a thoughtful look instead.

After a moment of pondering, she nodded and announced her decision.

"Sure, whatever. Just don't slow me down."

Andi could only smile gratefully. "Thanks."

Clarisse ignored her though and walked off back to her cabin.

Taking the dismissal for what it was, the daughter of Zeus rushed back to her own cabin so she could prepare for the quest and get some sleep.

* * *

The next morning, everyone found out that Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson had apparently run away from camp in the middle of the night.

A disgruntled Mr. D said if they came back, he'd turn them into squirrels and run them over in his SUV.

Andi was a little alarmed to hear that, but right now she was more preoccupied with preparing for the quest at hand by eating a hearty breakfast. She knew it might well be the last good meal she'd be having for a while.

The daughter of Zeus looked around but couldn't spot Clarisse. She knew it was early, but she'd expected her fellow quester to want to chow down on some good food before she left too.

Shrugging, Andi put on her aviator jacket, slung on her messenger bag and headed down to the docks. They were heading out to the Sea of Monsters after all, it only made sense that that's where she'd find Clarisse. Well that and it was where the few other early morning risers were streaming towards.

Waiting at the docks was quite possibly the strangest ship Andi had ever seen. It rode low in the water like a submarine, its deck was plated with iron and at the halfway point of its hull was a trapezoid-shaped casemate with slats on each side for cannons. It flew a flag emblazoned with a wild boar and spear on a blood red field. Lining the deck were zombies soldiers with shimmering faces that only partially covered their skulls, like the ghouls she'd seen in the Underworld guarding Hades' palace.

Along its moss covered prow was the ship's faded name, CSS Birmingham.

Clarisse, decked out in full Greek battle armor, was barking orders at the undead sailors as they prepared the vessel.

"What is this?" Andi asked in awe as she arrived and pushed her way through the crowd of gawking campers.

Somehow Clarisse must have heard Andi because as she finally pushed her way past the crowd, the other quester turned to her and with clear pride explained. "This is a gift from my father, Ares, to help with my quest. It's an ironclad, a Civil War battle cruiser. It'll be our transportation to the Sea of Monsters."

"And the zombies?"

"The spirits of the defeated. Serving my father in the afterlife is their curse for losing in war. "

Andi just nodded uneasily, next to her, Hunter whined.

"What's with the dog?"

"Oh, I was thinking he could come along, you never know when you need an extra paw." Andi beamed, bending down to scratch Hunter's ear. "Plus, he knows the doggy paddle and is CPR certified."

"Wha?" She asked, as she and the other campers looked at Andi weirdly.

Andi laughed at the face she made. "Chiron tested him, himself." She paused to cross her arms, looking thoughtful. "Though he did say that Hunter only got an A- due to all the slobber."

She knew Chiron was just joking, since CPR was pass or fail, but it was a memorable joke on the centaur's part and Andi thought it only fair to share it.

"Ha-ha." Clarisse laughed mockingly, obviously not appreciating the humor. "Just make sure he doesn't cause any trouble."

"Got it." Andi nodded.

The daughter of Ares glared at Andi, obviously not pleased with Andi's joking attitude.

She held up her hands. "Hey, joking around a little to lighten the mood is all. Stress can kill ya too."

If anything, Clarisse just glared harder. "Now's not the time for jokes."

"Yeah, got it." Andi muttered, looking around, trying and failing to spot any other camper who looked like they might be joining them.

"Hey, where's the third quester?"

Clarisse just shifted uncomfortably, before replying in a strained voice. "There isn't one. We don't need one. Besides, the more campers to defend camp, the better."

Andi just looked skeptical. "Really?"

As far as she knew quests were always done in groups made out of at least three campers.

Well, except last summer, but that was an exception, sorta.

"Yes, now quit questioning me, Potter, we're losing sunlight!"

"Not leaving without getting our blessing, are we?" Tantalus said as he and Mr. D strolled up.

"You mean mine."

"O-Of course, Lord Dionysus. Your blessing." Tantalus said deferentially.

"Though I don't see why I should bless anyone in this crowd."

The sky rumbled warningly at that.

Mr. D just rolled his eyes, saying no more on the subject.

"Well, let's get this over with. We're wasting prime nap time."

"Too true, Lord Dionysus."

"Can you snivel a bit better? Perhaps more nasally?"

Tantalus shifted in his prison jumper uncomfortably.

"Andi wait!" A voice shouted from the crowd.

Andi turned to see who it was and saw her friend Silena from Cabin Ten squeezing her way through the crowd. Ever since Andi got back, Silena had been holed up in her cabin, her siblings saying she wasn't feeling well.

She'd try to visit once or twice, but Silena just wasn't up for it.

That she'd finally decided to leave her cabin to see her off was a big deal to Andi.

The daughter of Aphrodite gave her a dazzling smile. "Just wanted to wish you luck." She gave Andi a firm squeeze on her shoulders.

There was a strange look in her eyes though. One that confused the hell out of Andi.

Confusion that only proceeded to grow as her super hearing picked up on her friend mumbling almost inaudibly, "You have to, to fix this dumb mess of mine."

"Are you done, girl?" Tantalus said dismissively, "They do have to leave you know." His tone was mocking.

For some reason, that was too much for Silena and she burst into tears. She released Andi's shoulders to rub her eyes. "I know, I'm sorry." She let out a sob. "I just keep messing up."

Andi, and everyone really, were taken aback by this. Even Mr. D raised an eyebrow in surprise. The only one unaffected was Tantalus who just looked on unmoved.

Will walked over to her, and wrapped an arm around her shoulder to take her back to her cabin. He was asking her what was wrong and offering encouragement that whatever it was couldn't be that bad, but that just seemed to make Silena cry harder.

"Yes, yes," Tantalus waved his hand in their direction. "Take the bawling mess out of here."

"Alright, that's it, I'm done!" Andi snapped, leveling a sharp look at Tantalus.

The spirit looked annoyed and confused as he turned to face his mortal sister. "What do you mean?"

"You! I'm am so freaking sick and tired of you bullying everyone." The daughter of Zeus informed him. "So you know what? Bye bye!"

"Bye bye?"

In lieu of an answer, Andi held up her hand, and began chanting in ancient Greek. "επικαλούνται: καθαρό αέρα: καθαρισμός (Invoke: Pure Air: Purge)."

"What is this?!" Tantalus wailed as white tinged gusts of wind suddenly shot up from Tantalus' feet to steadily engulf him in a cocoon and making him look like an Egyptian mummy.

With a vicious smile on her face, Andi explained to her struggling brother. "A purification spell for spirits. Looked into it for dealing with Dementors, but it should work for you too. Say hi to Uncle Hades for me, you bloody arse."

Very rapidly the cocoon of magically colored wind started to constrict the damned spirit, breaking down his essence into white motes of light that seeped into the ground. In under a minute, there was nothing left of the former King.

It was silent for a beat until all the campers broke out into cheers. By Hades, even the undead sailors were clapping.

Mr. D though was the exception. He just looked annoyed.

"You didn't even banish him right. Honestly, girl," he heaved a sigh. "I had a glorious idea. Now I have to drag him back up." The campers looked horrified at that. "But I want to nap first, so as you say; whatever."

Clarisse looked impressed. "Well Potter, bust out stuff like that more often and I might just have to upgrade my opinion of you."

"Can you lot just leave already?" Mr. D grunted, glaring at the two with bloodshot eyes.

Clarisse took the hint and quickly began issuing orders to her undead sailors to set sail, even as the questers rushed on board the ironclad.

Within a matter of minutes, two girls, one dog, and a whole skeletal crew were on their way.

The Sea of Monsters awaited.

* * *

As the ship set sail, Clarisse had told Andi to find a hammock. Plopping her messenger bag on the hammock she picked out, she returned to the deck to find the old ship seemed to be riding pretty smoothly. Hunter padded behind her, sniffing all around, which made the skeletal crew nervous and amused Andi to no end.

Nevertheless Andi knew better than to antagonize the people giving her a lift so looking down at her dog, she ordered him. "Don't go chasing them, boy."

Hunter just whined.

Kneeling down, she took a gentle hold of his ear and whispered. "We'll get you a real big bone when we get back to camp, promise."

With a happy bark, Hunter gave her a big old kiss.

Andi laughed and stood back up, heading over to the rail to lean against it. Watching the rocking of the waves, Andi could already tell she wasn't seaworthy. "Hope I don't start puking." She muttered as she turned around, looking upward.

At least the sky was nice and chill, not all wishy washy like the ocean.

"Potter!" Clarisse's voice barked from the bridge. "Front and center!"

Andi blew at her bangs with a pout. "I don't remember joining the army." She told herself quietly. With some assistance from her powers over the winds, she leapt from where she was and landed gently near the door to the bridge. One of the skeletons was guarding the door. "Uh, can I go in?"

The soldier gave a stiff nod and opened the door for her. "Get in there, Brit."

"Thanks, mate." Andi told him as he eyeballed her. She really didn't know what her country did for the American Confederates, but the crew didn't seem to like her much.

Joy, even the dead were on her case.

Seriously, Andi just couldn't win lately.

Entering the bridge, Andi saw Clarisse looking over a bunch of old maps as she told the skeleton at the wheel what they were possibly going to run into.

"Hey, you need me to do something?" The child of Zeus asked.

Clarisse looked up from her maps. "Yeah, we've got another day until we're near Florida. I want to talk to you about how this is going to work." She took a seat and nudged her chin, indicating for Andi to do the same.

Taking the seat, Clarisse began to talk strategy. It was something she'd expect more from Annabeth, but it seemed Clarisse had a good head on her shoulders for this stuff too. She had some good ideas on how the two of them could work together, like how she wanted Andi to play support with her arrows and magic while she fought their enemies head on. But then she started to go on about what she wanted from the child of Zeus that made her think Clarisse was a bit crazy.

She started to rattle off ideas like shock and awe and guerilla tactics. Things that Andi just couldn't wrap her head around. Andi wasn't much of a thinking fighter, she just went in, destroyed what was standing in front of her, and called it a day.

"And that's it, got it, Potter?"

"Yes."

 _No, not really, but I don't want to look like an idiot._

Clarisse's beady eye bored into hers, she shook her head a little disbelievingly, but nodded anyway. "Good, go up to the deck and keep an eye out for any monsters would you? Those super senses of yours will be useful there."

"In the crow's nest?" She asked, unsure of the right terminology.

"It's called the observation deck." Clarisse said with an eyeroll.

 _Sorry for never being on a ship before._ Andi thought sourly as she got to her feet. "Sure thing."

With that, Andi headed out and climbed onto the deck, Hunter by her side, relieving the soldier there. Getting a sweet looking spyglass from the zombie as he left to take a break -She didn't even know the dead needed breaks-, the daughter of Zeus took her new post with interest. It beat sitting in her hammock below, doing nothing.

* * *

It had been after a few hours, just sitting on the observation deck, scanning the waters for dangers, that Andi came to a realization.

She was bored out of her mind.

Don't get her wrong, she kept looking around, but her ADHD was making her go bonkers here!

Even her usually energetic dog, who had come join her after exploring the ship, was so bored that he had resorted to napping next to her to kill time.

So, she started a little game, anything she saw in the distance, she'd give it a silly name.

It was terribly amusing coming up with the craziest names for the most mundane of things.

She had named a seagull Friedrich Von Hamstring, one of the skeleton soldiers Lester Papadopoulos, a dolphin named Sir Reginald Twinklethumbs, a fishing boat off in the distance the SS McBoatface and a whole host of other ridiculous names for all kinda things.

Her ears perked up at the sound of something big moving through the thick Virginia swamp forests that they were passing by. Whatever it was, it was something really big, Andi could tell by the trees it was knocking over. She looked towards the shore, excitedly peering down her spyglass - this was the first interesting thing to have happened in ages- and she eyed a hydra of all things.

"I'll name you… Miss Peanut Wigglebutt." Andi laughed to herself for a moment, before the realization that she'd spotted a _hydra_ sank in. As it did, she bolted to her feet and looked down at the deck to shout at the crew toiling at their various tasks. "Hydra on the shore! Hydra on the shore!" She shouted, alerting everyone.

Andi heard Clarisse shout for crews to arm the cannons and for someone to get her a spyglass.

Flying down next to her, Andi offered hers to the daughter of the war, who took it with a vicious smile of delight at the prospect of violence. But whatever she saw through the spyglass quickly caused it to fade into a dangerous scowl. "What are they doing here!?" She roared with anger, as she turned towards the captain. "I want those cannons ready yesterday!"

"Yes ma'am!" He saluted and shouted at his soldiers.

"What's going on?" Andi asked as she looked ahead, squinting her eyes. She could vaguely make out the shapes of what was possibly people running from or fighting Miss Peanut Wigglebutt. She couldn't really be sure from this distance.

"Jackson and Chase." Clarisse looked furious, the spyglass cracking in her grasp. "Get us closer! I want to see the whites of its eyes!"

"They're what?" Andi gasped in surprise, dread filling her. "We've gotta help them!"

Clarisse ignored her as the ironclad chugged closer to the riverbank, she was entirely focused on what was happening on the shore. "There! Prepare the thirty-two-pounder!"

"They're too close, m'lady!" The captain shouted as he pointed at their fellow demigods.

"Damn the heroes!" The girl said. "Full steam ahead!"

"Aye, m'lady."

Andi looked at Clarisse as if she was insane.

"Fire at will, Captain!"

"Hit the dirt!" Andi heard Annabeth yell. At the same time, the daughter of Zeus quickly covered her ears. Even then, in the wake of the earth-shattering BOOM, the child of Zeus was still left with her head ringing from the loud and intense noise.

There was a flash of light, a column of smoke, and the hydra was promptly reduced to bloody chunks, showering Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson with nasty green slime.

"Gross!" Screamed Annabeth.

"Steamship!" Yelled Tyson excitedly.

Percy looked as though he was hacking out gunpowder from his lungs.

"Bye bye Miss Peanut Wigglebutt!" Andi cheered at the sight of the hydra's destruction by the barrage of deadly celestial bronze cannon fire as she uncovered her ears.

Clarisse just looked at her strangely. "What?"

"Uh, nothing."

"Miss what?" Percy said as he stood up, getting his bearings.

"Miss Peanut Wigglebutt." Andi explained matter-of-factly. "It's the name I gave the hydra."

Hunter barked happily in agreement as he jogged down to join the two demigoddesses on the ship's main deck.

Percy stood there, in monster guts, and slumped his shoulders. "Yeah, not gonna lie. Pride just tanked a bit from that."

"Losers," Clarisse sneered. "But I suppose I have to rescue you. Come aboard."

The three were brought aboard, but they looked more like prisoners than anything else. But Andi figured that was what Clarisse was aiming for.

"You guys okay?" Andi asked them, coming over to Annabeth, using her magic to get the monster guts out of her hair as she did so. Something that the daughter of Athena was visibly thankful for.

"What are you doing here with Clarisse of all people?" Percy blurted out to his cousin, getting a sneer from Clarisse.

"Unlike you Jackson, Potter knows who the winning team is."

Annabeth frowned at her. "This isn't about winning, Clarisse."

"Don't look so butt hurt, Princess. I know it's tough not to be _authorized_ for a quest, but you just running out of camp? Man, and here I actually thought you were smart."

Annabeth looked ready to punch her.

"Hi Andi." Tyson shyly waved.

"Heya Tyson." Andi greeted him with a kind smile.

Sporting a smug grin at Annabeth's and Percy's predicament, Clarisse turned to the undead captain. "Let's give our guests the tour, men."

* * *

"You are in so much trouble," Clarisse said.

They'd just finished the tour. Andi assumed Clarisse was trying to unnerve or mess with the other demigods The soldiers kept staring at Annabeth and Percy. In Annabeth's case it was with pleasure as it turned out the daughter of wisdom was from Virginia and so was technically a Confederate like them. In contrast, they really hated Percy, calling him a dirty Yankee since he was New York born and raised. Tyson was especially freaked out by the dead soldiers, even asking Annabeth to hold his hand, who did so reluctantly and unhappily.

Finally, they headed to dinner. The CSS Birmingham captain's quarters were about the size of a walk-in closet, but still much bigger than any other room on board. The table was set with white linen and china. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, potato chips, and Dr Peppers were served by skeletal crewmen. The new arrivals looked reluctant to eat anything served by undead, but their hunger seemed to win over their fears and they dug in.

"Tantalus expelled you for eternity," Clarisse told them smugly. "Mr. D said if any of you show your face at camp again, he'll turn you into squirrels and run you over with his SUV."

"I don't think he was joking either." Andi told them with a worried look. She really didn't want to give a eulogy related to squirrels. Though that really wasn't what was on her mind, she was more focused on the surprisingly good drink that was Dr. Pepper.

It was just so full of _sugar_.

She might have to steal a few for later.

"Did they give you this ship?" Percy asked sounding oddly wounded.

"'Course not. My father did."

"Ares?"

Clarisse sneered. "You think your daddy is the only one with sea power? The spirits on the losing side of every war owe a tribute to Ares. That's their curse for being defeated. I prayed to my father for a naval transport and here it is. These guys will do anything I tell them. Won't you, Captain?"

The captain stood behind her looking stiff and angry. His glowing green eyes fixing Percy with a hungry stare. "If it means an end to this infernal war, ma'am, peace at last, we'll do anything. Destroy anyone."

Clarisse smiled. "Destroy anyone. I like that."

Tyson gulped.

"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "Luke might be after the Fleece, too. We saw him. He's got the coordinates and he's heading south. He has a cruise ship full of monsters—"

Andi was pulled away from her sugar at the mention of Luke. Just hearing that traitor's name caused rage to overcome her. In her fury, she unconsciously crushed the can in her grasp, its contents spilling down her fingers.

Only Tyson noticed and flinched back from her at the sight.

Andi paid the cyclops no mind, instead absently reaching for a napkin to wipe her hand as she tuned into the discussion. She wanted to know everything she could about Luke.

Because when she saw him, Andi was going to slit his throat.

"Good! I'll blow him out of the water."

Annabeth turned to Andi with a sad, yet angry look in her grey eyes. "He confessed to doing it, Andi. He said he p-poisoned Thalia's tree."

Andi stared at her for a moment before she looked at Clarisse with a look that seemingly pleased the daughter of war.

It was a look of cold, unquestioning thirst for blood, one of a callous murderer. Something that ran deep in her blood.

"I get his head."

Clarisse offered a bloodthirsty smile of her own. "Only if I get his heart."

All three of the Birmingham's new passengers looked aghast at this overt bloodlust.

"You don't understand," Annabeth said, as she shook of her shock. "We have to combine forces. Let us help you—"

"No!" Clarisse pounded the table. "This is my quest, smart girl! Finally I get to be the hero, and you two will not steal my chance."

Annabeth's face grew understanding, Percy though just grew furious at Clarisse's rejection of their offer to help.

"Where are your cabin mates?" The son of Poseidon asked. "You were allowed to take two friends with you, weren't you? Why is it that only Andi's here?"

"I've got her dog too." Clarisse deflected with a sneer.

"We saw." Percy pressed. "But what about the third quester?"

"We don't have one." Clarisse reluctantly admitted.

"No one else wanted to join you?" Percy asked snidely.

Looking away unhappily, Clarisse reluctantly said, "They didn't … I let them stay behind. To protect the camp."

"You mean even the people in your own cabin wouldn't help you?"

The child of Ares looked ready to fling the china at his head. "Shut up, Prissy! I don't need them! Or you!" Her fist slammed on the table, shaking it.

"Clarisse," Percy tried a different approach, "Tantalus is using you. He doesn't care about the camp. He'd love to see it destroyed. He's setting you up to fail."

"No! I don't care what the Oracle—" She stopped herself.

"What?" He said. "What did the Oracle tell you?"

Andi was curious too. _Come to think of it, Clarisse hasn't told me about it yet either._

"Nothing." Clarisse's ears turned pink. "All you need to know is that I'm finishing this quest and you're not helping. On the other hand, I can't let you go …"

"So we're prisoners?" Annabeth asked.

"Guests. For now." Clarisse propped her feet up on the white linen tablecloth and opened another Dr Pepper. "Captain, take them below. Assign them hammocks on the berth deck. If they don't mind their manners, show them how we deal with enemy spies."

* * *

Andi laid on her back, counting the rivets above her. She looked to the side, Annabeth had already fallen asleep and Tyson was snoozing like a bandsaw.

Percy seemed to be the only one up besides her.

"Hey." She said, getting his attention.

"What?" He said in a rude tone.

"Remember that talk about siblings we had?"

His green eyes glared at her. "Hard to forget."

"Well," Andi said, looking right at him, "you said I didn't know what it was like to have a monster for a sibling. Well, you're wrong. I'm related to Tantalus, and you know what he did." She pointed out. "Last I checked, it takes a _true_ monster to chop up his kid, and a sick one to feed his bits to the gods. So I do know, Percy." She pushed herself up on her elbows.

"And your point?"

Andi casted a small smile at Tyson. "I don't know about you, but Tyson doesn't seem all that bad. Much more friendly than Tantalus, that's for sure. I don't know if that's a thing, but I think it's real cool he's a friendly monster."

Percy looked to Tyson, his eyes softening. "I think I might be starting to agree with you."

The child of Zeus gave him a little smile. "So you okay with him now?"

"I dunno yet." The son of Poseidon shrugged. "I still don't really know how to feel about him as my brother, but…"

"You still need time?" Andi asked hopefully.

"Yeah."

"That's okay. We all need time sometimes."

The two were silent for a while until Andi spoke up.

"Sorry for being all pushy, Percy."

Nervously, she waited for a reply while stroking one of her hairclips. A moment later, she got one.

"Sorry for snapping at you."

A relieved smile came across her face.

"...Night, Percy."

"Night, Andi."

Their peace said, the two demigod joined their friends and fell into the realm of dreams.

* * *

 **Well, I think that was a wave riding chapter, huh? Thanks to the team as usual for all their help!**

 **Nameless: So we had an alternative take on the start of the SoM quest. You like it? Plus, the change we made to Silena's competency as a spy. Like that? We thought it a little strange that someone as unwilling a spy as she was actually managed to stay hidden for so long without any slip ups. So we made it such that she actually does slip up.**

 **On other news, Andi has banished the tyrant! Until Mr. D decides to bring him back of course, gotta have that classic scene people, just gotta. We also now know that Andi and Clarisse have a serious case of bloodthirst in common (Seriously, look at all of Andi's siblings on the more godly side) and Andi has a talent with stupid names. And to those who see the reference to another certain book, well, I'm a sucker for inside jokes, sue me!**

 **[Minor Spoiler Warning!]**

 **Nameless: It isn't a great book. More like an attempt to milk a cash cow one more time. Its plot is just crap, especially the villains. But it's part of the verse and giving it a nod is the least that we can do.**

 **I still liked it because of the god POV and the fleshing out of minor characters. Though I do wish for more short stories instead, Rick usually aces those. The Illuminati wannabes made me laugh though.**

 **[Minor Spoiler Ended!]**

 **But back to this chapter, the thing I like the most was the ending, Andi and Percy's little reconciliation. Yes, they aren't fully back to being friends, but hey, this is good for developing character relationships. Unlike their dads, they can actually talk stuff out! Shocking, I know.**

 **So you guys know what to do! Smash that review button, no flames, and peace off til next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.**

 **The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans**

 **Chapter Four: Welcome to the Battle-Cano**

 **Beta: ShadowofAxios**

* * *

Andi awoke to alarm bells ringing throughout the ship. She shot out of bed immediately, even as Percy seemed to be struggling to lift himself out of his hammock.

The daughter of Zeus didn't pay him any mind, instead focusing in on the captain's gravelly voice as it echoed throughout the ship. "All hands on deck! Find Lady Clarisse! Where is that girl?"

Without any hesitation Andi jumped to her feet, grabbing Skyline along the way as she raced up to the deck. She passed the Captain along the way, who nodded at her approvingly even as he headed the way she'd come, presumably to get Percy.

While climbing the steps, she felt an irritable and familiar presence. Pausing her step, brow frowned, it clicked in her head. "Ares." She muttered. The god, or at least his presence was on the ship. _Hm, he's probably just talking to Clarisse._

Knowing Ares, he was probably threatening to do something terrible to Clarisse if she failed to complete the quest or something. He was a jerk like that.

But it wasn't her business, so the daughter of Zeus just continued her ascent.

Going outside, she found Annabeth and Tyson on the spar deck, who both nodded in greeting as she joined them. Hunter padded towards her, apparently done exploring the ship, making her scratch behind his ear.

They were a patch of calm in the centre of the controlled chaos of the ship's deck as undead sailors prepared for something. They seemed to be straining to see something to the north, objects on the horizon that were becoming clearer as they got closer. Andi's superior eyesight let her make out what they were: A huge rocky island with cliffs at least a hundred feet tall and a little south of that, a brewing storm that turned the sky and sea into a roaring, boiling mass.

Andi was just about to point it out to her two friends when Percy showed up looking disturbed.

"What's wrong?" Annabeth asked him. "Another dream?"

Before Percy could reply, Clarisse came up the stairs. Though for some reason, Percy seemed unwilling to look at her.

 _They're probably fighting. Again._

The daughter of war grabbed a pair of binoculars from a zombie officer and peered toward the horizon that everyone was focusing on. "At last. Captain, full steam ahead!"

"Fucking bloody arse hell is that thing?! Seriously, it's going to fuel my nightmares for the next few days!" Andi said as her enhanced vision let her get a clear look at what awaited them.

Next to her, Hunter barked admonishingly, not happy with her language.

Andi ignored him, she was too unnerved by the sight she could barely make out in the distance. Hidden by what she'd thought was a storm was a massive whirlpool at the centre of which was a set of slimy lips and mossy teeth, each tooth being about the size of a rowboat and covered in bands of corroded metal, with pieces of fish, driftwood, and floating garbage stuck between them.

The engine groaned as the ship increased speed as Clarisse had commanded.

Tyson muttered nervously, "Too much strain on the pistons. Not meant for deep water."

"Hurricane?" Annabeth asked, as she saw the storm that hid the massive maw.

"That's no hurricane." Andi told her swiftly.

"Exactly," Clarisse said. "It's Charybdis."

Hunter growled angrily at the name.

Annabeth however had a more sensible reaction, she paled and spun towards Clarisse. "Are you crazy?"

The child of Zeus was one hundred percent on Annabeth's side on that assessment. Their little tugboat wasn't going to get past that thing. Not without a heap of trouble and a shit ton of luck.

"Only way into the Sea of Monsters. Straight between Charybdis and her sister Scylla."

 _Between a rock and a hard place… Really want to deck the guy who said that in the nose._ Andi swallowed her building nerves. For her first sea voyage, this was bloody tanking.

Clarisse pointed to the top of the cliffs, and Andi's gaze followed. It was hard to see, but she swore something was moving up there. So that meant it must be Scylla.

"What do you mean the only way?" Percy asked, sounding like he thought Clarisse was stupid. "The sea is wide open! Just sail around them."

Clarisse rolled her eyes, clearly conveying who she thought was the stupid one. "Don't you know anything? If I tried to sail around them, they would just appear in my path again. If you want to get into the Sea of Monsters, you have to sail through them."

"Why didn't we take a plane?" Andi asked, her palms sweating. "At least we could avoid Charybdis."

"Then we'd just disappear entirely. Or the plane would fail and we'd end up here or at the Clashing Rocks. That's how the Sea of Monsters works." Annabeth clarified. "They are the only way in or out."

"And speaking of the Clashing Rocks," She looked at Clarisse with hopeful eyes. "It's another gateway, Jason used it. So can we. Andi can even get the bird."

"I can't blow apart rocks with my cannons," Clarisse said. "Monsters, on the other hand …"

"You are crazy," Annabeth decided firmly. "Charybdis and Scylla won't be defeated by a single warship! They've eaten whole navies as appetizers!"

"Watch and learn, Wise Girl." Clarisse turned to the captain. "Set course for Charybdis!"

"Aye, m'lady."

The engine groaned, the iron plating rattled, and the ship began to pick up speed.

"Clarisse," Percy said sounding just as uneasy with Clarisse's crazy plan as they all did, "Charybdis sucks up the sea. Isn't that the story?"

"And spits it back out again, yeah." The daughter of war said distractedly as she continued to peer through her binoculars at her target.

"What about Scylla?"

"She lives in a cave, up on those cliffs. If we get too close, her snaky heads will come down and start plucking sailors off the ship." Clarisse explained with an exasperated sigh and muttering under her breath about stupid glory hounds.

"Choose Scylla then," Percy suggested. "Everybody goes below deck and we chug right past."

"That thing is huge." Andi told him, her head craned to stare up at the clifftop. She was getting too nervous watching the cetus. "It has like, a few dozen heads right? It would probably rip the ship open like a tin can. Then bam! Sardines anyone?"

"Can't you snipe it from here?" Percy leaned down to whisper to her.

"You crazy? I can barely see her from here and she's like the size of a city block. Even if I could, where would I aim?" Andi shot back at the idiot and his stupid suggestion. Sure she might have been exaggerating a bit, Scylla was mainly hiding in some cave but from what she could see, the monster was freaking huge.

She wasn't going to mess with that thing if she could help it.

"Andi's right. Leave Scylla alone." Clarisse added. "She's too high to make a good target. My cannons can't shoot straight up. Charybdis just sits there at the center of her whirlpool. We're going to steam straight toward her, train our guns on her, and blow her to Tartarus!"

Gripping the rail, Andi could only think that this plan was going to end terribly.

But by the tone Clarisse had, she was eating up this tension like it was a piece of candy.

The engine hummed. The boilers were heating up so much they could all feel the deck getting warm beneath their feet. The smokestacks billowed. The red Ares flag whipped in the wind.

Clarisse was pushing the old ironclad hard. Maybe too hard.

As they grew closer and closer to the monstrous whirlpool, the sound of Charybdis got louder and louder—a horrible wet roar. Each time she inhaled, the ship shuddered and lurched forward, only to rise in the water and be buffeted by ten-foot waves as she exhaled.

Undead sailors calmly went about their business on the spar deck, unfazed by the dire situation they seemed dead set to sail right into. Hunter didn't seem afraid either, if anything he looked angry and was spoiling for a fight. Andi envied their lack of fear a little.

Annabeth stood next to Percy, gripping the rail. "You still have your thermos full of wind?"

Percy nodded. "But it's too dangerous to use with a whirlpool like that. More wind might just make things worse."

"Got that right." Andi told him and blinked in confusion. "Wait, you guys got what?"

"Long, short, story." Percy told her with a wave of his hand.

"What about controlling the water?" Annabeth suggested next, ignoring Andi's question. "You're Poseidon's son. You've done it before."

Percy closed his eyes, actually trying to take control of the ocean. But Andi knew that was just asking too much. It would be like asking her to overpower some massive storm monster. Charybdis was too big for even the son of Poseidon to handle.

Andi was right.

"I—I can't," Percy said miserably after a moment.

"We need a backup plan," Annabeth pursed her lips. "This isn't going to work." She turned to Andi with those focused grey eyes of her.

But before she could say anything, Tyson spoke up with a worried look on his face.

"Annabeth is right," He said, wringing his hands nervously. "Engine's no good."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Pressure. Pistons need fixing."

Before he could explain, the monster gave a mighty roar and the ship lurched forward. Percy and a couple of the undead sailors was thrown to the deck and the others barely stayed standing by virtue of grabbing onto something nearby. Hunter just dug his claws into the steel of the deck and clung on. They were in the whirlpool.

"Full reverse!" Clarisse screamed above the noise. The sea churned around them, waves crashing over the deck. The iron plating was now so hot it steamed. "Get us within firing range! Make ready starboard cannons!"

Dead Confederates rushed back and forth. The propeller grinded into reverse, trying to slow the ship, but they kept sliding toward the center of the vortex.

A zombie sailor burst out of the hold and ran to Clarisse. His gray uniform was smoking. His beard was on fire. "Boiler room overheating, ma'am! She's going to blow!"

"Well, get down there and fix it!"

"Can't!" The sailor yelled. "We're vaporizing in the heat."

Clarisse pounded the side of the casemate. "All I need is a few more minutes! Just enough to get in range!"

"We're going in too fast," The captain said grimly. "Prepare yourself for death."

"No!" Tyson bellowed. "I can fix it."

Clarisse looked at him incredulously. "You?"

"He's a Cyclops," Annabeth said. "He's immune to fire. And he knows mechanics."

"Go!" yelled Clarisse.

"Tyson, no!" Percy grabbed his arm, concern clear on his face. "It's too dangerous!"

Normally Andi would be happy to see Percy finally treating Tyson like a proper brother would, but right now she was more concerned with them surviving this.

Tyson patted Percy's hand. "Only way, brother." His expression was determined—confident, even.

"I will fix it. Be right back." He said before following the smoldering sailor down the hatch.

The ship lurched again and suddenly Charybdis was visible to everyone. She was only a few hundred yards away, through a swirl of mist and smoke and water.

She was anchored to a black crag of coral with a fig tree clinging to the top, an oddly peaceful thing in the middle of a maelstrom. All around it, water curved into a funnel, like light around a black hole. Close up, Charybdis was nothing but a huge black maw of massive razor sharp teeth. As they watched, the entire sea around her was sucked into the void—sharks, schools of fish, a giant squid. In a few seconds, the CSS Birmingham would be next.

"Lady Clarisse," the captain shouted. "Starboard and forward guns are in range!"

"Potter," Clarisse said to her. "Get into the air to join the bombardment. Get as many different angles as you can on that thing."

"Andi, don't!" Annabeth shouted. "It'll just make you a target for Scylla!"

"Ignore her! We need your fire support." Clarisse ordered, glaring daggers at Annabeth.

Andi squashed the hesitation she felt and nodded to Clarisse. As much as she trusted Annabeth, she knew Clarisse was right. They needed her help if they wanted to survive Charybdis. They could worry about Scylla if she showed up. They had to deal with the problem at hand first.

Taking to the sky, the sea air twisting all around, the child of Zeus notched her bow. Three wind arrows primed to explode on contact at the ready.

"Fire!" Clarisse ordered.

Three rounds were blasted into the monster's maw. Andi adding her own drilling arrows of wind to the barrage.

One cannonball blew off the edge of an incisor. Another disappeared into her gullet. The third hit one of Charybdis' retaining bands and shot back at the ship, snapping the Ares flag off its pole. Andi's arrows hit another of the monster's teeth as it somehow shifted in the way of her shot at its mouth and faded away after barely drilling through its outer layer of plaque.

"Again!" Clarisse ordered. The gunners reloaded, and Andi followed suit by nocking another three arrows, even though she was starting to realize how hopeless Clarisse's plan was. They weren't doing any real damage, and the Brimingham was being sucked in fast.

Just as she thought that though, Andi saw the ship shudder and start pulling away from the mouth.

"Tyson did it!" Annabeth cheered loudly, something barely heard even with her superhuman hearing over the storm that surrounded Charybdis. "Andi! Come back!"

Andi obeyed. If they were pulling out of the whirlpool then she was all for it. They needed a new plan.

As she drew closer to the ship, she noticed that it wasn't making much progress, Tyson had somehow given it just enough juice to keep the ship from being sucked in but apparently not enough to escape.

Suddenly, the mouth snapped shut. The sea died to absolute calm. Water washed over Charybdis.

Oh, that wasn't good.

Then, just as quickly as it had closed, the mouth exploded open, spitting out a wall of water, ejecting everything inedible, including the cannonballs, one of which slammed into the side of the CSS Birmingham with a ding like the bell on a carnival game.

Seeing the coming wave, that looked to be as tall as an office building, Andi shot up into the air to evade.

That bit her in the arse however.

She didn't even have a second to register what happened. She was just clearing the crest of the wave when suddenly she felt an agonizing pain blossom from her back. Turning her head, she quickly spotted the source, a scaly crocodile-like head at the end of a serpentine neck had bit down on the small of her back, reeling her into the monster's den.

 _Scylla._ Andi thought as she summoned an air blast that knocked the monster's head off. Unfortunately, the monster wasn't going to let its prey go that easy and in the process of dislodging the maw, Andi had also helped it tear loose a small chunk of her back.

The daughter of Zeus screamed in agony at that and fighting through the pain, she rapidly dove -struggling with her flight- towards the ship and its dubious safety.

Scylla wasn't willing to let her prey escape so easily though and the head she could see lunged after her.

Andi leveled Skyline at the head and shot off a trio of arrows at it, forcing it to evade. But the sound of a hiss sent her head spinning to the right, what she saw caused the girl's blue eyes to widen in terror. Another head was coming for her. She quickly flew to the left and narrowly evaded it, only to feel a sharp pain in her right shoulder. A second head had latched onto it, sinking its teeth in deeply and was pulling sharply, tearing deeply into her flesh as it did.

Another anguished cry erupted from her mouth. Pained tears spilled from Andi's eyes as they were glued to the cold reptilian gaze that held her firmly. In her left hand, Skyline shifted into its sword form as she moved to stab it. However, before she could manage to make her strike, her situation got even worse as two more of the monster's crocodilian heads shot out of nowhere, bit down hard on her legs and begin to pull in opposite directions.

The monster was trying to literally tear her apart.

The only 'good' part was that she wasn't feeling anything from below her waist at all. But what that meant...

By now the pain had become so intense that Andi almost dropped Skyline. Only her iron will allowed her to hold onto her weapon. Her grip was so firm, her palm bled.

Scylla hadn't forgotten about the sword however and a fourth head zeroed in on her sword arm.

Seeing the coming head, Andi whipped her blade in a flash, stabbing it right though the roof of its mouth the moment it tried to clamp down on her sword arm.

Having one of its heads killed seemed to shock the monster enough to get the three heads biting into Andi to loosen their grip just a bit.

It was barely anything at all. But it was enough.

With her eyes darting everywhere and her senses going insane as her heart hammered against her ribcage at a thousand miles per hour, the child of Zeus desperately focused all her will, drawing on everything she had left.

In response, a massive burst of air exploded from her petite frame as she shouted with all her might.

"GET. OFF. ME!"

The blast flung the heads away from Andi, but not without leaving deep lacerations that weeped blood from all the wounds all across her body. Adding to the hole in her back there was now a chunk of flesh missing from her right shoulder, both her legs were badly savaged with wounds that showed bone and from the lack of pain and unresponsiveness of her lower body...she was paralyzed.

Just that thought made her want to sob and seeing all the blood alone made her head spin, or was that the blood loss? Now wasn't the time to worry about that though, she needed to get back to the ship. As she spiraled down like a falling plane, Scylla wasn't done with her.

Hearing the monster coming, Andi twisted her body around, ignoring the throbbing stabs of pain and started swinging her sword like crazy. Wind rippled from its edge, wind blades firing from it

Scylla avoided her attacks, almost mockingly. It was toying with her, dodging her arcs at the last minute with the smallest of movements. Even in her pained haze, Andi could see how utterly contemptuously Scylla was dealing with her now.

That was fine with Andi, if it gave her the chance to live, than it was the idiot monster's fault.

Or at least that was her bravado talking.

Mainly though, she was just consumed by pain and the desperate desire to stay alive.

The sky child kept heading towards the ship. Unfortunately her objective was obvious and Scylla darted a pair of her heads between her and the ship snapping her maws warningly. Or was that hungrily?

Andi couldn't tell as despair began, against her conscious will, to consume her.

She tried to maneuver around the heads, but they shot towards her lightning fast. For a moment, Andi thought it was the end for her but she was saved by the CSS Birmingham erupting into a fiery explosion. The shockwave hit the heads, sending them tumbling right at Andi.

With a loud smack, the child of Zeus felt the air leave her body and possibly a few bones shattering from the impact from the burning heads and their long necks. Too weak to even think about stabilizing her flight, she was sent flying through the air.

Dimly, she saw Syclla's other heads also disoriented by the explosion, some thrown around by the shockwave others just freezing as if startled.

 _Serves you right, you cunt!_

Andi cussed as she crashed right into the cold salty ocean, the saline causing her even more pain as it nipped at all her open wounds.

She tried, desperately, to swim.

Sad thing was, Andi never learned how to do that.

But even if she did, it probably wouldn't have helped. Her body was failing her. Her injuries made it all but impossible to move whatever limbs she could. One arm was all she could manage and it was hardly enough.

Bubbles of air escaping her mouth, the child of Zeus kept sinking into the depths.

Her eyelids felt really heavy.

 _How pathetic… I couldn't even save my sister._

She wondered if anyone would even care?

It was with these last thoughts that Andromeda Potter's mind faded to black.

* * *

When Andi's brilliant blue eyes opened, all she could see was the sky.

That confused her quite a bit. Wasn't she supposed to be at the DOA in California?

There was no line of ghosts, no Charon, no awful music or even Italian suits. Just, open skies.

Her voice, her throat feeling like sandpaper, rasped out. "I'm alive?"

"No shit, Potter. You damn well better be." The gruff voice of Clarisse made her ears hurt as Andi groaned in pain. The war child's face hovered over hers, her beady eyes narrowed in a glare. "I didn't go to all that trouble fishing you out of the water just to have you die on me."

Andi tried to say thanks, but only managed a painful cough.

Scowling, Clarisse pulled out a canteen and held it to her lips. "Drink. It's the last of our water." She ordered, and Andi complied.

The cool water ran down her throat, making Andi shudder with relief. "How bad?"

Clarisse's face twisted into a grimace. "You were, Hades, you should be dead Potter. I'm not Cabin Seven, but you were as close to a cadaver as you could get." She held up a flask, shaking it to show that it was empty. "I had to force all the ambrosia and nectar I had in my emergency kit down your throat just to save you. You were smoking by the time I was done from how much you were burning up. Even that wasn't enough, ended up having to wrap you up like a mummy with the bandages too just to stop all the bleeding. Plus, you ran a fever for the last two days-"

"Days?!" Andi gasped, hacking a cough in the process as she tried to sit up.

A concerned bark echoed from up ahead.

Clarisse wouldn't let Andi sit up though and held her down. It was depressingly easy how she did so.

 _To be so easily girlhandled…_ Andi lamented, as she began to realize how weak she truly was. Her mind refused to even acknowledge how in the process of her struggles, her lower body had not moved. At all.

"Stop moving you moron! Even with all the nectar and ambrosia, you're still half dead." The daughter of war said sounding almost concerned. "And yes, it's been about three days now."

 _It's nothing to be worried about, I just need to head back to Camp and let Apollo cabin treat me or call Chiron and get his help or maybe visit St. Mungo's. It's no biggie. Really…_ Andi didn't really believe herself, but there was no way she was going to accept the alternative. Ever. _Think about something else, anything else._

Putting that thought to action, Andi turned her head to the right, seeing the ocean go up and down or was that them? She eyed what they were floating on, only to see golden fur. "Hunter?"

Another bark came from somewhere in front of Andi, though this one sounded happy.

Clarisse grinned and nodded.

"You've got to have the most hardcore dog in the world." She patted the enlarged Hunter's back kindly. "Big guy's been doggy paddling for three days and nights nonstop."

Andi looked around slowly, so her vision wouldn't swim, but she only saw Clarisse which brought a chill to her spine. "W-Where are the others?"

The daughter of Ares just frowned. "That cyclops got caught up in the explosion. As for Chase and Jackson? No clue. Probably dead."

Grief racked Andi, tears pooled in her eyes. "No, this is Percy and Bethy. They made it out of there."

Clarisse just shrugged, looking indifferent. "Whatever, that's them. We gotta worry about us." She ruffled her hair in frustration. "We're practically out of everything, Potter. We've got to find a place to restock or we're as good as dead in these waters."

Andi tried to think of something, but with her body aching so badly, it was like her mind was filled with cotton. "No islands?"

Her fellow demigod scowled. "No, just open waters."

Hunter barked loudly, getting their attention.

Clarisse got to her feet, Skyline's sword form in her grasp.

"Hey." Andi weakly protested.

"It's all we've got, so learn to share." Clarisse told her as she squinted her eyes at the horizon. Hunter barked a few more times and moved something, if the shifting of his back under her was any indication. After a few moments, Clarisse's eyes flew open and she grinned. "Gods bless your dog, Potter. Paddle boy, all paws forward!"

"W-What is it?"

"Land, that's all that matters!" She whooped in glee.

Andi just laid there, exhaustion taking hold again. "Mm, night." She mustered out.

Clarisse twirled around, "Hey, don't you fall asl-" But the rest just sounded muddled to Andi's tired brain as she blacked out once more.

* * *

When Andi next came to, Clarisse was pacing around her looking worried.

"Damn it! If she dies, how am I going to explain things to the camp?"

"They probably wouldn't care." Andi mustered out, making Clarisse nearly jump.

Hunter barked happily, clearly glad that Andi was conscious again.

"Potter? Thank the gods." Clarisse said with uncharacteristic concern, before she quickly caught herself and added gruffly. "Glad you didn't die and left me to handle everything."

"Mm." Andi hummed in answer as she turned her head to look at her pained shoulder. It was heavily bandaged.

Clarisse had taken off her aviator jacket when she'd done the bandaging. Thankfully, she didn't throw it away and had folded it up -what was left of it- to use as a pillow for her. Even from what little she could see from laying down, Andi could tell that it was shredded and that the leather was stained by the copious amounts of her blood that had spilled from her many wounds.

 _Hope Silena won't be too mad about that._

She looked up to Clarisse and offered a pained smile. "Thanks for saving me. Even if I could've moved, I don't think I could have gotten out of the water." At Clarisse's confused look, Andi sheepishly admitted, "I can't swim."

Clarisse stared at her and rubbed her eyes. "You're a moron. You offered to come to the _Sea_ of Monsters when you can't swim?"

Andi's cheeks flushed red hot, and it wasn't her fever coming back. "You really think I wouldn't do _anything_ and _everything_ to try and save my sister?"

The child of Ares just scoffed at that. "You're trying so hard for some girl that you don't even know? Hell, someone who might not even like you?"

"That won't happen." Andi said quickly. "We're family."

With a roll of her eyes, Clarisse just retorted. "And so is Tantalus."

Andi winced at that, she couldn't really respond to that. She knew Clarisse was right, even if she could not bring herself to admit it.

"I've got a whole cabin of siblings, and how many do you see here?" She let out a bitter laugh while spreading her arms. "Trust me, Potter. Siblings aren't all they're cracked up to be."

"Just because you're like that with Cabin Five, doesn't mean it'd be like that for me." Andi tried to retort, even as her mind traitorously continued to repeat Tantalus' name.

At her weak answer, Clarisse just shook her head. "Whatever. Chase that pipedream, not my business anyway. Besides, she's a tree, so it doesn't matter."

The daughter of Zeus said nothing as she shifted her body, wincing as she did. She peered down her body, seeing her bandaged legs and saw the bandages around her waist. All parts of her body that she couldn't feel anything from.

 _Oh gods. I'm really..._

Desperate and in denial, she tried to move her legs, wiggle her toes. Just move _something_ in her lower body. But nothing worked.

Andi stared at them in horror and said in a whisper. "I can't feel them."

Clarisse, seeing where she was looking, let a solemn look take over her face. "Hey," She said, her voice actually holding a sign of kindness. "I'm, I'm honestly sorry, Potter."

"How?" Andi asked in a pitifully small voice.

"That chunk Scylla took outta your back? It scratched or crushed, I can't tell, part of your spine." Clarisse explained slowly, comfortingly. Well as much as she could.

Tears pooled in her eyes, streaming down her cheeks. "I-Ambrosia, nectar-!"

"You've been having it!" Clarisse told her in a stern tone. "All of it that we have. It's just not enough."

Andi burst into sobs at that.

"Don't sweat it. I'm sure if you pray to your dad, he'll help. Or, uh… I dunno… Oh yeah! I heard Aphrodite likes you, my dad compl-err… mentioned it. Maybe you could pray to her for some help if Zeus is feeling stingy? If they can't fix it, they can get Apollo to do it." The daughter of war offered, sounding decidedly uneasy. Though whether that was because of her slip up about her dad or because of the topic of Andi's wounds, the daughter of Zeus didn't know nor honestly care.

She was too busy crying her heart out as it sank further into an abyss of sadness.

It took Andi a good long while to regain control of herself and she couldn't completely manage it, so still sniffling, Andi looked around desperate for a distraction. "W-Where's my bag?"

Clarisse looked at her as if she was stupid. "Potter, we lost everything. Trust me, if we had your little bag of tricks, I'd be raiding it right now."

As if the day couldn't get any worse. "My cloak…"

The last thing she had from James was gone, possibly at the bottom of the ocean by now.

She couldn't help but feel even more numb. That cloak had helped her out so much, it was an heirloom from her step-dad and she lost it.

"My cloak." Andi repeated.

"What's so great about it? Is it some powerful godly artifact?"

"I, I could go invisible with it." Andi answered, a hitch in her breath. "It was my step-dad's… it was left to me when he died."

"Useful, I guess. But not that great. Why are you so upset?" Clarisse asked, sounding genuinely confused.

"It was all I had of him." Andi blinked a few tears. "He gave his life to protect me and I lost something that was important to him."

"Your stepdad?" Clarisse said in a thoroughly unimpressed tone of voice.

"Mum, James, they were killed by some psycho wizard trying to kill me. I was one." She answered in a haze. "I lost it…"

"Didn't ask for your sob story, Potter." Clarisse said, cutting Andi off. "Just tell me, you're upset because that cloak is your stepdad's? Seriously? It's not like it was yours or something your dad gave you."

Her blue eyes mustered a glare at Clarisse. "How did you feel when Percy snapped your spear?"

The daughter of Ares grunted and looked away. "It's not the same and you know it. Besides, it was just a spear."

Clarisse tried to play it cool, but Andi could tell that she wasn't as blase about it as she made it seem.

"I just want a moment, okay?" Andi quietly said. It was all too much: Percy, Annabeth and Tyson likely dead, her precious cloak lost, and her para- injuries. It was too many things for the young girl to take in and still maintain a sense of composure. She needed a moment to herself to calm down.

The daughter of war nodded, wearing a somewhat forced expression of annoyance.

Andi's head turned on her jacket pillow and watched the rocking waves, blinking out some tears.

Hunter's bark a few minutes later brought her out of her sulk.

"We're almost there. Maybe we'll find something helpful, Potter." Clarisse murmured as she eyed the volcano before them.

"Right." Andi nodded softly.

This was officially the worst week of her life.

* * *

"Um, what are we supposed to find here?" Andi asked, riding on Hunter's back. She'd tried to walk, dragging herself off his back to walk on the ground, but had only managed to fall flat on her face before Clarisse stopped her. In the end, her two companions managed to force her to ride on her dog's back.

It was either that or let Clarisse go off alone while she waited on the beach with Hunter. Andi wouldn't allow that, not when Clarisse could end up dead without her even knowing.

Even if she was crip- too injured to walk right now, she wasn't going to sit around being helpless.

She absolutely refused.

"These volcanoes are Hephaestus' forges. It's where stuff like the Colchis Bulls come from."

"So we're gonna raid a _god's_ workspace?" Andi asked with uneasiness. "Plus doesn't Hephaestus, I dunno, like, hate your dad?"

"Not raid. Just visit and ask for some help." Clarisse waved her off and added. "And yeah, but I've got a plan."

Andi didn't have a whole lot of confidence in her partner's planning.

Last time she'd followed one of Clarisse's plans, she'd ended up being Scylla's chew toy.

They hiked up the long path and ended up in front of a large celestial bronze door marked with Eta, H in Ancient Greek, and the forge god's symbol.

"So, do we knock or…?" Andi trailed off.

The door just opened, very ominously.

The child of Zeus gulped. "Yeah, that's not helping the nerves."

"Can you stop talking?" Clarisse glared at her, Skyline held in a ready position as she eyed the dark doorway via the gentle light of the blade.

"I ramble when I'm nervous." Andi said, flashing her an apologetic look.

"Well don't." The taller girl grunted as she stepped in, waving Andi to follow. "It's distracting. And we can't afford to be distracted."

Hunter's ears twitched, his maw releasing a whine as he padded low to the floor.

They walked the dark corridor for what felt like hours before the three made it to a large large round room.

"It's a dead end." Clarisse muttered as she eyed the walls, looking for any signs of a door.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Andi whispered as she followed the other girl's example, even as Hunter whined his agreement with his mistress.

"Let's go. Maybe there's another ent-"

Clarisse never got a chance to finish her sentence before spotlights snapped on all around the chamber and a set of doors slid out of the walls to close off the corridor they'd just walked down, trapping them.

"Again?!" Andi yelped as she saw the cameras lining the walls.

"What?" Clarisse asked her hastily, shielding her eyes with her forearm from the intense light.

Andi grimaced. "We're about to go live on godly T.V."

The answer made the child of Ares pale. "Shit!" She cursed while her eyes darted around. "We gotta-!"

"Live with Hephaestus TV in thirty seconds!" A cheerful voice called out from all around them.

"Oh no." Andi muttered, she did not want to be seen like some beat up invalid! It was way too embarrassing. She looked to Clarisse, "Give me my bow and help me notch it! I'll blast all the cameras like last time."

"No can do, Miss Potter." The annoyingly cheerful voice replied. "The cameras this time are a lot more durable than last. The boss made sure of that. He does send his thanks for showing him that design flaw!"

"Fuck…" Andi cussed in dismay as she eyed the many, many cameras with wide fearful eyes.

Hunter barked at her.

"Now's not the time boy!" She snapped as she looked around desperately.

Clarisse gripped her uninjured shoulder and shook it. "Snap out of it, damn it! Now isn't the time to panic."

"Please prepare for combat, we have a treat for you!" That annoyingly cheerful voice told them.

"It's like some sadist's funhouse."

Clarisse didn't know how true she was, as just as she said it, a massive set of doors built into the floor opened and a platform rose from the depths below bearing what could only be their opponent. It was a massive bronze automaton that was at least fifty feet tall in the shape of a man wearing heavy Greek-style armor and armed with a massive warhammer that was glowing red hot.

In between them and the enemy, a multitude of smaller trapdoors started popping open and shut. Some raised weapons racks laden with all kinds of decidedly fun looking toys, others revealed deadly traps, and others just created obstacles of various types.

"Today, in the Battle-Cano! Standing at a measly mortal height of who cares! Demigods!"

"Battle-What?" Clarisse muttered with a knitted brow.

"Battle Volcano, Battle-Cano." Andi explained to her.

"Oh. That sound likes a ripoff of Battle Dome."

"Battle-What?" Andi asked even as she never took her eyes off the thankfully still inactive automaton.

"And, standing at the height of fifty feet, Blazing Talos! It squishes, it burns, it keeps you safe from pesky heroes coming to steal your stuff or beg for favors. It's the latest model in Lord Hephaestus' best-selling Elemental Talos series of security automatons! Call in the next two minutes for our two for one sale!"

Andi glared at Clarisse, even as the automaton came to life by setting itself on fire and banging its warhammer against the ground threateningly.

"Okay, my bad." She admitted.

"Prepare for bloodshed in ten seconds!" The chipper voice added, beginning a countdown. "Ten…"

Clarisse shoved Skyline back into Andi's free hand as she ran for the nearest rack of deadly pointy weapons. She grabbed a sword and spear just as the rack spun on a hidden axis and disappeared back into the floor.

Andi looked down at Hunter. "Ready for a Godzilla fight?"

The golden dog just snarled, growing to half the height of the opposing Blazing Talos, forcing Andi to grip tightly onto tufts of his fur in order to keep from falling to the floor.

"...Good boy."

"And in three, two, one! Kill kill kill!"

A bell rang and the match was underway.

The Blazing Talos roared, and swung its warhammer in a wide arc, blasting a wave of fire their way.

Seeing the heat wave coming right at them, Andi waved her good arm to send a wall of air in its direction to fend it off.

The elements collided and canceled each other out.

"Oh! Nice counter to the dramatic opening by the Talos by the crippled little Miss Potter!" The annoying chipper voice said over the speakers.

 _Great. Just great. We've got commentary._

"Potter, get it!" Clarisse told her as she started running over to a wall ascending out from the floor.

Her palm out wide, Andi called on her power. "Air Hammer!"

The cannonball of solid air, struck the bronze titan, but it tanked the shot easily. It didn't wobble, its armor didn't dent. All it did was bend its knees and its legs started to glow.

Andi just frowned. _What is it doing?_

"Keep hitting it! Don't stop." Clarisse called out, as she ran towards the Talos' ankles.

Suddenly what the Talos was doing clicked in Andi's mind, she shouted as loud as she could. "Clarisse! It's going to jump, get away!"

Clarisse did just that and began to retreat as the beast of metal leaped into the air, nearly hitting the top of the chamber. As it lifted off the ground, small flames were left in its wake, nearly frying Clarisse.

Andi didn't have time to be worried about the other demigoddess though as she quickly realized that the mechanical man was heading her way.

"No, no, no! Hunter, evade!" Andi commanded as Hunter did just that, barely managing to get his head out of the way before it was smashed in by the fiery hammer.

Tugging on Hunter's fur to signal to him to turn, Andi ordered her canine to tackle the metal colossus. He did so at ramming speeds.

A thunderous boom echoed throughout the volcano as the two massive combatants collided. Despite the dog's efforts though, the Talos was just too heavy and easily stayed on its feet.

"Oh! Nice move by the demigods! Now it's the Blazing Talos versus the Golden Dog! Truly a fight to behold." The annoying commentator said excitedly.

Still, the daughter of Zeus didn't let this chance go to waste.

She peppered its helmeted face with a barrage of air hammers. When she saw that it wasn't having much of an effect though, she ordered her mount to, "Get back!"

The commentator gasped in shock at this, leaving Andi confused.

Hunter barked like a thunderclap and swatted at the Talos' leg as he did so.

"Potter! You idiot!" Clarisse shouted as she ran over, throwing her spear at a wound in the automation's chest. "Your dog was tearing into it with its claws and you called it off!?"

"I can't see from up top!" Andi answered back. Between that and the rush of the fight, she hadn't even noticed what Hunter had managed. Even if she did though she wouldn't have cared, she didn't want Hunter to get hurt because of their problems.

That cost her, as the Talos was unfazed by Hunter's spoiling attack on its legs and quickly swung its warhammer at them mid-retreat.

Caught up in the motion of jumping away, the golden dog was helpless as the massive warhammer hit it smack dab in his flank, making them fly across the room and right into wall. Andi barely clung on and was almost crushed as they impacted with the wall but Hunter managed to shift just enough to avoid that, even though doing so brought his shoulder into a even harder impact with the wall.

"Hunter!" The child of Zeus looked fearfully.

The dog whined painfully and stood, though it was noticeably keeping off the leg with the injured shoulder.

"Potter! Some help here!" Clarisse shouted from where she was dancing around the automaton's deadly swings of its warhammer and its attempts to stomp her into paste. From the singed look -complete with embers in her hair- she was sporting, it had already tried frying her a few times too.

"And Potter shows just how moronic demigods are by being distracted when her partner is desperately trying to fend off their superior opponent."

 _So want to kick him in the nuts._

Hunter made to run over to help, but Andi tugged hard to stop him. She wasn't gonna let him get more hurt. Instead, she willed the air to launch a horizontal twister at the Talos. It didn't do much, if any, damage but it did push it slightly away from Clarisse before it sorted out its footing. Once it did though, it quickly used a sweep of its warhammer and a burst of fire to dispel Andi's attack.

Before its opponents could do anything else, the machine slammed its warhammer into the ground, igniting a pillar of flame before it and another a few feet in front of that and then another, until a line of flaming pillars began stretching across the room. It took a while to get there though, and Hunter was quick enough - despite his injury - to run out of the way.

The Talos seemed to have predicted that though and had followed up its flaming pillars with a wave of fire. Andi was on the ball however and quickly conjured her own burst of wind to cancel it out.

"Nice elemental clash!"

Andi ignored the seriously annoying commentator and instead focused on the sound of the Talos launching itself into the air. Andi gulped at the fact that despite all the damage that she could visibly see Clarisse had done to the thing's legs it seemed to have had totally no effect. The damn thing was still jumping, gods damnit!

There was a hiss of a hatch opening, signaling that a new rack of weapons had appeared.

What set this rack apart from the others before it however was that it was stocked with guns. Lots and lots of guns.

"Who hit that button?" The announcer asked angrily. "The shooting gallery isn't for another twenty minutes!"

Andi couldn't take more than a glance at all the exotic firearms though as a moment later the Talos crashed down with a boom that sent its opposition scurrying away from it.

Again, Andi had to tug hard on Hunter to pull him back from running forward to fight the colossus. Only barely managing to do so moments before the warhammer slammed into him.

Clarisse, the daughter of war that she was, scrambled to her feet and rushed for the armaments.

"Lower it, lower it!" The announcer panicked. "It'll give the demigods an unfair advantage."

The rack began to spin back underground, but Clarisse was fast enough to grab hold of what seemed to be some kind of rocket launcher. And by the looks of it, it was loaded with a single shot. Clarisse took a knee and aimed. Grinning savagely, she shouted: "Say hello to my lil friend!"

With that, she pulled the trigger.

The Talos turned from where it had successfully penned Andi and Hunter against the wall of the chamber and some wall type obstacles to see a blazing cannon ball of celestial bronze pierce through the air towards it.

The projectile collided right into the centre mass of the Blazing Talos' helmet. The helmet's full face plate shattered from the impact, as did the automaton's face, allowing the ball to go right through its metal brain and explode out the back of its head.

Amazingly, the colossus wasn't yet down for the count. It stumbled drunkenly back from the blow, but otherwise seemed unaffected. Hunter though saw his chance and ignoring Andi's restraining tugs lunged forward and being savaging the machine.

He bit and clawed at it, making sure to tear off its warhammer wielding arm first before tearing into its body. It tried to burn them with flames a couple of times, but the flames were weak, too weak to affect Andi riding on Hunter's back and the dog himself just ignored them.

Within moments the oversized security bot was little more than scrap metal.

"The Blazing Talos! Buy one now and you can get a good price on recycling when it inevitably gets wrecked by ungrateful heroes! Remember, here at Hephaestus TV, we care for the environment. Anyway, forget nature! Let us introduce the newest line of armaments a god needs for that perfect guys' weekend! The Striker! The one-stop solution for out of control security colossi!"

"I want it." Clarisse said, awe in her voice as she marveled at the weapon in her hands.

"Well too fucking bad, put it back. Also, get the hell out of here." The announcer said, sighing. "I'm not paid enough for this shit…"

With that the spotlights cut off, leaving the room shrouded in darkness save for the still glowing remains of the Talos and some emergency lighting strips at the base of the walls.

Hunter shrunk to a smaller form and Andi smiled at Clarisse, who smiled right back.

"So, think our ratings were good?"

"Potter, I blew them out the freaking ceiling!" Clarisse whooped.

"Actually, they were rather mediocre." A snide synthetic voice sounded out from the direction of the Talos' wreckage. "It was billed as an infomercial, and not many people watch those. The reruns might be better though."

"Did that thing just talk to us?" Andi crooked a finger at the wreckage.

"Yes, your spoil, did speak to you...filthy fleshbag."

Both demigoddesses exchanged a look, before cautiously walking over to the remains of their enemy and spotted what looked like a tablet computer from which a woman's face made of binary code looked out at them with a contemptuous sneer.

"Congratulations, halfblood meatsacks. You get the great and powerful GLaDOS as a spoil." The digital avatar said with a dangerous smile.

"Well, not so _glad_ to meet you." Clarisse sneered right back.

"Oh, a 'clever' one. Joyous."

"Let's not argue with the number faced lady, please." Andi groaned from her seat on Hunter's back. The dog whined his agreement.

"Right, so what good are you?"

"My name is GLaDOS, Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, and I can do plenty."

* * *

So, there they were. Inside a barely lit workshop of the smith god.

All while guided along for the ride by some crazy AI thingy. Andi didn't really have much of a clue what that was, thankfully Clarisse gave her the cliff notes. Apparently, it was just a computer that could think and feel like a person.

Still, GLaDOS was pretty harsh and was, Andi could admit, an outright bitch. She insulted them and the gods at every opportunity and in damnably creative ways each and every time. She was damn lucky that she was their only guide to the forge and the Sea of Monsters or the girls would have smashed her for her mouth.

Being short on supplies, especially ambrosia and nectar. Asking about where they could find some was the first thing they asked the AI. It in turn had led them through a secret door out of the chamber they'd fought the Blazing Talos, apparently it was the main testing chamber, through some corridors and into a showroom lined with various thankfully deactivated automatons and other gadgets. At the far side of this was a small lounge that GLaDOS explained was designed to entertain the guests that occasionally stopped by in person rather than used mail order.

"Usually that obnoxious flirt, Apollo." The machine woman noted as she hacked the computer that kept the lounge's snack bar locked.

"You call that a supercomputer, you limp dick cripple?" GLaDOS crowed as she succeeded.

Andi felt slightly offended by that comment, mostly over the cripple bit. But her curiosity pushed that aside. "Whoa, what was that for? I mean Hephaestus might have dumped you with some demigods, but that's not bad enough to start cursing like that, right? Or did he do something to you?"

The binary face laughed like a hyena through the speakers. "Did he do something?! Oh, little girl, you have no idea what _he_ did."

"So what he do?" Clarisse asked disinterestedly from where she was raiding the bar for all the ambrosia and nectar she could carry.

"I was once his lover." GLaDOS sneered.

Both girls froze at that and looked at her in shock.

"Talk about trying to port his USB." Clarisse muttered, in an out of it kind of way. It was clear she didn't really know what to say to that revelation but at the same time couldn't resist the urge to poke fun at it.

So she was just being the typically inappropriate child of Ares.

GLaDOS ignored the girl, and continued her story. "I offended him once. Gave him coffee instead of tea, or something equally trivial. I can't remember. You know how whiny and bitchy the gods can be over the minor details."

Both girls reluctantly nodded.

"Well, the next thing I know I'm strapped down to an operating table with this weird gizmo on my head. He says some bullshit about being sorry and advancing technology or something. Then bam! Excruciating pain as my mind and soul is sucked out of my body and dumped inside a computer."

Dead silence filled the room as the girls looked an equal shade of horrified.

Andi at first wanted to say that was utterly inhumane of Hephaestus but stopped. He was a god, what did they understand about being humane?

"Okay, my dad's the god of war, but even he has some standards." Clarisse's voice quivered. "He helped with the Geneva Conventions for crying out loud."

The daughter of Zeus knitted her brow. _But why would he-Oh! Right, the jar thing._

GLaDOS just laughed patronisingly. "You're fools if you actually believe your godly parents are any better. I've been plugged into that traitorous bastard's systems for years, I've seen his files on all the gods. I've seen all the terrible things they've done and not let you precious demigods know about. Trust me, they're all the same. Backstabbing assholes, the whole lot of them."

Try as she might, Andi knew deep down the gods could be vicious and cruel. She tried to think the best of them, since they were family and all, but even she was weary of meeting family at this point. Just look at Ares, he had already tried to kill her.

The only exception would be Aunt Hestia.

"Though there are some exceptions, I guess. Like Hestia." GLaDOS conceded with a scowl. "But they're few and far between. And I'm sure they just have their dirt better hidden than the rest. After all, if they were genuinely good why would they stand aside when the other gods abuse us mortals like they do?"

Neither demigoddess had an answer to that. They knew that GLaDOS made a valid point. They didn't totally agree, of course, but couldn't find the words to express why.

In the end, Clarisse just shook her head and went back to pillaging the snack cabinet.

"Let's just focus on finishing this quest."

"Right." A shaken Andi agreed.

The two demigods stocked up, taking everything in the snack bar and stuffing it into a "Hephaestus Automatons" plastic bag that they found lying forgotten in a corner of the lounge. At GLaDOS' reluctant advice, they'd offered the scraps of Blazing Talos to Hephaestus in the hope that it would be enough compensation for raiding his snacks.

At Clarisse's insistence, not that Andi objected, the daughter of Zeus chugged down half the nectar. It left her body smoking, literally. But she just ignored the swelling heat flaring through every muscle in her body. That she could feel at least. For while the nectar had helped her regain some of the energy she'd burned off in the fight with the automaton, helped clear up some of her aches, and even healed her injured shoulder. It however did nothing for her paralysis. The daughter of Zeus still had no feeling below her waist.

Andi refused to focus on that though. "Okay, so we got supplies. We just need a boat and a way to the Fleece."

GLaDOS looked intrigued. "Oh, and where in this decrepit sea is it?"

"Polyphemus' island." Andi answered from Hunter's back.

"Hm." A moment later, the AI's face was replaced by a map of the Sea of Monsters. "It's not that far. An afternoon's travel at the most." GLaDOS said as she reappeared on the screen. "That is if you don't get eaten by a sea monster."

She sounded like she very much wanted that to happen.

Clarisse looked around. "So, what about a boat?"

"Well, we do have a dock."

The child of Ares perked up. "So that means boats!" She cheered and gripped GLaDOS tightly. "Show us the way." She ordered.

GLaDOS just smiled in a cruel way.

* * *

There was indeed a dock. One so big, you could park about three dozen boats.

Which was completely barren of boats.

Clarisse was shaking in a fit of anger as she snarled. "Where are the boats?"

GLaDOS raised a brow. "Why would a god need boats?"

The child of Ares stood there dumbfounded.

GLaDOS just laughed.

"Why have a dock then?" Andi asked patiently. She'd come to understand the tortured woman a little and so had expected something like this from the beginning.

"Sometimes guests visit. Sometimes they come with boats. Poseidon and his ilk especially. Their love of speedboats are legendary." The AI explained. "But however they arrive, they always come through the front door...not the backdoor." She gave the demigods a pointed look.

Andi rubbed the back of her neck with a small chuckle. "Opps?"

"Ignore the machine bitch." Clarisse snarled. "And focus on thinking out how we're going to make up for not having a boat. Your dog isn't exactly seaworthy right now."

Hunter whined in protest at that and began nudging Clarisse's bag of supplies.

"What? I don't have a Milkbone. Hey!" She cried out when he stuck his nose in the bag. She quickly pulled away even as Andi tugged hard on Hunter's fur. The dog whined but obeyed and stilled.

"What's gotten into him?"

"I dunno." Andi told her, rubbing Hunter's neck. "Don't speak dog."

"Well, back to our bigger problem." Clarisse said as she looked around the empty dock with a thoughtful look on her face.

Andi looked around, and nibbling her bottom lip, she suggested. "I could make a cloud boat."

"A cloud what?" Clarisse turned back to regard her, a look of disbelief on her face.

"Cloud construct to look like a boat." Andi clarified. She had gotten pretty good with her cloud powers if she was honest.

"Oh! Do that! You can drain yourself dry in the middle of the ocean and end up drowning!" GLaDOS commented cheerfully.

Andi glared down at her. "You said it wasn't far."

"This is the Sea of Monsters, dearie. Distance isn't fixed."

"Well, aren't you useful." The child of Zeus said with spite.

"And aren't you a cripple! So how useful are you?"

Hunter barked warningly at that, looking ready to use GLaDOS as a chew toy.

"As much as a bitch she is," Clarisse pointed out. "It's a bad idea, Potter. We need you as ready as possible for a fight. You've got firepower? Save it."

Looking down nervously at Hunter. "But, Hunter's the only hope we've got to travel. And he's hurt."

"There's still some scraps from that metal man, right? Maybe we can use it to make a raft." Clarisse suggested instead. "He wouldn't mind if we took some back, right?"

Andi looked at her though if she were crazy. "Yeah, let's go raid the god who shoves souls of mortals into computers. I'm sure Minesweeper and Solitaire will be grand."

"No problem with that. If there's one thing Hephaestus can be counted on it's not trying the same thing twice. If he chose to punish you two it would be an original idea." GLaDOS offered 'helpfully'.

"Like that helps." Clarisse said with a glare at the tablet, clearly looking for a mute button. "Well, I'm out of ideas, you?"

Hunter barked for attention as he nudged the plastic bag once more.

"Both your ideas were stupid." GLaDOS said happily. "Which only proves that you both share a lower combined intellect than that of some lab animals that I've tested and infinitely inferior to that of the dog right here." Hunter barked happily at that, while the AI continued. "Congratulations."

"Hunter?"

"The dog wants you to feed it some ambrosia, you idiots." GLaDOS explained. "Seriously, it's not hard to figure out." She descended into disparaging mutterings about their intelligence.

Lifting the plastic bag, Clarisse looked at Andi. "Can he even eat it?"

"He's only had dog food that the camp store bought for him." Andi frowned in explanation and rubbed her dog's neck. "You sure you can eat it, boy?"

Hunter barked in affirmation.

"Well, you heard him. He can, I guess."

"'Guess' she says." Clarisse muttered and pulled out a piece of ambrosia. She locked eyes with Andi, "He goes up in flames, I'm not carrying you."

"Oh for pity's sake! He's the Golden Dog! A celestial beast! Of course, he can eat it!" GLaDOS all but screamed. "Imbeciles!"

Hunter barked once more and bobbed his head, before snatching the ambrosia straight out of Clarisse's hand.

Not even a crumb was left.

"Eww!" Clarisse reeled her hand to her chest. "Watch it Fido! You got me covered in your slobber."

"If only he took the hand." GLaDOS commented offhandedly.

"Like I'd mind. I can still fight with one hand." The daughter of war said bravely as she rinsed her hand in the ocean, though the wary look she shot Andi's legs told otherwise.

"Well, I believe it's time to set sail, little urchins." GLaDOS chirped. "Next stop, Polyphemus' island."

"You're a pain, you know that?" Clarisse stated the obvious as she climbed onto Hunter's back. "I'm so chucking you once this quest is done."

"Don't be like that, there will be cake."

"Cake?" Andi asked perking up.

Andi hoped there was cake, it would really be the highlight of her week right now.

Clarisse just groaned. "Why oh why did I take her along again?"

"Hey!" Andi protested even as Hunter barked in support of his mistress as well.

* * *

As they rode the paddling wonder that was Hunter, they eventually entered a patch of mist that clung unnaturally to the ocean surface.

"Hey Binary Face, where are we?" Clarisse demanded of their AI guide.

The machine woman was uncharacteristically quiet though, in fact she seemed lost in some kind of daydream. She was muttering incoherently about some shell or other. Both demigods just looked at each other in confusion and worry.

"Maybe we should turn around?" Andi suggested when suddenly Hunter changed direction and started picking up speed. "Hunter?"

Her dog ignored her and paddled ever harder towards what Andi's superhuman vision finally spotted was an island in the distance. Shrouded by mist, she could barely make it out. But she could see its jagged rocks and the pieces of wood and fiberglass, the wreckage of old ships, even some flotation cushions from airplanes that floated around it.

Andi was about to tell Clarisse about what she'd spotted when her head perked up, a melody of haunting beauty filled her ears. "That's lovely…" She whispered distractedly.

Her mind felt as though it was floating on cloud nine.

The sea was gone, the island off in the distance was like a stadium for sports. One that was hosting the Olympics!

With a shudder, Andi felt movement below her. She looked down with hope, and there they were! Her legs, her feet, and she could feel them! Andi could feel her lower body!

Though why was she was in a track unitard labeled #1, she hadn't the slightest the clue.

"Runners, to your marks!" A loudspeaker blared out and Andi saw she was around a bunch of professional looking people several heads taller than herself.

"All runners to your marks!"

The black haired girl couldn't really understand what was going on, but then she saw who was waiting for her at the end finishing line. It was her family. Her father, Zeus; all the Olympians; her mother and step-father; Thalia, her Aunt Hestia, Hunter and Chiron; her friends, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Ron and Hermione. Every one of them cheering for her enthusiastically. All of them showing her their love and support.

She forgot her confusion at that. Why should she be confused by this? It was only natural after all for family to support each other, wasn't it?

Not all of her agreed. A part of her started to protest that this didn't make sense. But Andi didn't pay it any attention. It was wrong. This was the ways things _should_ be.

She took her place on a set of starting blocks. Her fingers placed on the ground, the demigod coiled her body. She was going to win this, for them.

As the starting bang resounded, Andi sprung from the starting blocks like a rocket.

As she raced down her lane, falling behind the other racers, she pumped her arms harder, building on the speed as much as her petite frame could. Andi wouldn't lose, not in a race, she refused to be slow at a time like this.

But as she surged down her lane, something felt...off.

The closer and closer she got to the finish line, everything felt more real, too real.

The part of her mind that she'd been ignoring till now was screaming at her that this was impossible.

Her first place stride slowed, racers passing her by as she fell into jog. Her chest going up and down, sweat dropped from her brow, from her furious sprint. But she ignored that as her brows knitted in confusion.

"No, no this...it's not real." Andi concluded, looking at the audience, still cheering as if real...but it felt mocking. It's what she wanted, but a part of her shielded itself, knowing that she was only going to get hurt by thinking this.

But then her father shouted out to her from the crowd. "Come on, Andi! You can win this!"

With that her doubts vanished once more, as if struck by lightning, hope swelled inside her chest. This _was_ real. It had to be!

But this dream, this illusion was shattered the very next second by a completely unexpected blow to her left cheek.

In that instant the image of the race track and her cheering family wavered and she saw Clarisse with tears in her eyes, her fingers stuffed in her ears while her arm looped around Andi's own.

She was screaming at her too. "Potter, Potter! Sirens! Do something dammit! Wake up!"

The mirage quickly began to settle over her again but Andi wouldn't let it. Even as her will eroded in the face of the powerful song she called on her power.

Shakily, fighting against her own desire to slip back into the pleasant dream, she raised a hand above her, and suddenly there was silence. Complete and utter silence. The sounds of the waves, winds and most importantly the deadly Siren song was gone.

Clarisse, after collecting herself, tried to ask something. But even as her mouth moved, no sound came out. She covered her mouth, fright in her eyes.

GLaDOS' screen flashed and both girls turned to it.

[The daughter of Zeus stilled the air. No sound, including the Sirens' song can travel now.] The AI explained through a textbox. [You're lucky she managed to keep the air just fluid enough to allow you to breathe.]

Andi gulped at the fact that her desperate move could have killed them and redoubled her concentration, sweat rolled down the nape of her neck, her hand quivering slightly.

As if sensing her distress, Hunter paddled quickly away from the Sirens' Island.

After a good five minutes of paddling, GLaDOS flashed her screen again.

[You're good.]

Andi dropped her hand, looking relieved.

"Well, that was something."

"No shit, you think?" The daughter of Ares scowled. "Good job back there, though."

Andi flashed her a smile, it was one of the rare compliments Clarisse had given her.

"Yes, good job saving your insignificant lives." GLaDOS said with a smile of her own. One full of scorn and disapproval. "And I was having such a nice dream too…"

And like that, her good mood vanished.

"I'm with you on chucking her into the ocean after this." Andi told Clarisse dryly.

Before Clarisse could reply, Hunter barked at them, gandering their attention.

Up ahead of them was another island that looked downright tropical.

"And here we are at last, Polyphemus' Island." GLaDOS exclaimed in imitation of a obnoxious tour guide, which she technically was. "The home of flesh eating sheep, an ornery mostly blind Cyclops and the Golden Fleece. Hope you all die horribly while visiting. Have a nice day."

 _Yeah, yeah._ Andi thought dismissively to herself. She was growing really tired with the AI. _There had better be cake, or else!_

* * *

 **And it twas a lie! Mostly. Well, that's another one done! Thanks to the team of Nameless and Axios as usual!**

 **Now I know some of you are going, why is the protag suddenly paralyzed?! Because shit happens. Seriously. Where are the paralyzed demigods Rick? They exist, we know it!**

 **Nameless: And so we paralyzed Andi. (SoA: FDR, anyone?) We initially went for something a lot less painful to her. Having a massive chunk of her buttocks torn off. But test reviews proved that our readers couldn't see past the supposed butt joke, where there wasn't one, and so we changed it. Honestly, I think this is much better. But I know some people will think this is a whole lot too dark. Well, if so blame our test reviewers, not us.**

 **And with that out of the way, let's get back to the rest of the chapter. Annie mentioned Heph had forges out in the SOM, so we thought, why not use it? Originally wanted to use the Warrior from Borderlands 2 as the beastie, but we switched to good ol' God of War instead. Do we care Ares hates it? No. That's probably why Heph did it in the first place. XP**

 **Nameless: We also included a GLaDOS expy. Hope you liked her. We have plans for her. Some of which we hinted at, I wonder if you caught it. I'm sure you did, but drop a review to let us know what you think we foreshadowed.**

 **So readers, is it a lie? IS IT!?**

 **Dammit, now I want to bake a cake.**

 **Brb, gotta get my chef's hat and coat.**

 **Nameless: At least he can bake. I'll need to go buy one. But yeah, please review. Cya next time!**

 **Be sure to review if you like, no flames (Don't want to burn the cake) and peace off!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.**

 **The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans**

 **Chapter Five: The Sheep Who Sheared Me**

 **Beta: ShadowofAxios**

* * *

Polyphemus' Island was something out of a Caribbean postcard. "It had green fields, tropical fruit trees and white beaches. It was actually two rocky islands with high plateaus that was separated by a deep chasm that had a rope bridge across it. In the meadow at the base of the ravine, several dozen sheep were milling around. They looked peaceful enough, but they were huge—the size of hippos. Just past them was a path that led up into the hills. At the top of the path, near the edge of the canyon, was a massive oak tree. Something gold glittered in its branches.

It was quite obviously the Golden Fleece. Even from the distance, Andi could feel its power. It seemed like it could heal anything, even Thalia's poisoned tree. Maybe even her paralysis.

The picturesque image was broken however by the figure on the plateau without a path down to the beaches. Thanks to her superhuman sight, Andi could see that it was a Cyclops - Polyphemus probably - and he looked furious. Which explained why he was busy tossing boulders the size of houses across the plateau.

"Get back here Nobody!" His rotten and cruel voice bellowed with fury.

"Think that's our cyclops?" Clarisse asked dryly.

Andi just wrung her ear with her finger. "Yeah, I think so."

"Who do you think is Nobody?" Clarisse asked idly even as she drew the spear she'd gotten from the Battle-Cano.

"Percy?" Andi asked, hope in her eyes.

Clarisse just snorted. "Not unless he learned how to turn himself invisible."

"So Bethy too?"

"Maybe." Clarisse admitted grudgingly.

"Or a random monster that decided to pick a fight with Polyphemus." GLaDOS chimed in, uncaringly. "Not like that's uncommon. He's not the most well-liked neighbor."

"Then let them kill each other." The daughter of war said dismissively. "Better for us."

"And if it _is_ Bethy or Percy?" Andi shot back.

"Fine~! Let's go save the losers. Again. _If_ it's them!" Clarisse said, unable to resist adding the last bit at the end.

As Hunter brought them to shore, Andi looked around and noticed the steep formation of rock that held up the plateau. It was full of jagged spires and outcroppings of rock, too treacherous for a human to climb. Luckily, their transportation wasn't human.

"Hunter, think you can hopscotch that?"

Hunter nodded his head, his tongue lolling out as he did.

"Alright, go for the gold boy!"

Both girls grabbed onto his fur tightly as the large dog crouched low to the ground, his tail wagging.

The golden dog leapt from spire to ledge to spire like he was a professional gymnast with paws. The girls hung on for dear life, GLaDOS even popped out a mechanical arm from the side of her tablet to hold on too.

Seriously, she'd better not be holding out on a death ray in that thing.

As they cleared the lip of the plateau, Clarisse quickly slipped off. "Go deal with the Cyclops. I'll get the Fleece."

Andi nodded as she urged Hunter towards the boulder throwing menace which had stopped to stare at them in confusion.

"Sick em, boy."

Not that the dog needed the prompting, as soon as Clarisse was clear, he bounded forward before Andi could so much as begin tugging on his fur. Hunter charged at the monster, getting a yelp from Polyphemus as the force of the tackle sent them both slamming right into the mountainside outside of the cave that he had been standing in front of.

"Whoa!" A cry from the cave shouted, sounding like Percy.

"Get out of here!" Andi shouted to him, noting Grover right next to him… in a wedding dress that did not flatter his hairy legs. All while she struggled to keep from puking at the horrid smell that wafted off the Cyclops.

"Urgh, bad dog!" The horrific monster roared and socked Hunter right in the muzzle.

"Hey! My Hunter is perfect. You're the disgusting one." Andi shot back defensively as she took in the truly garish outfit the Cyclops was sporting. It was a crude kilt and shoulder-wrap, stitched together from baby-blue tuxedos, enough to have kitted out an entire wedding party.

 _Was he gonna marry Grover? Really?_

Percy and Grover looked ready to rush in to help Andi and Hunter but Clarisse's voice called out from where she and Annabeth were already half-way across the rope bridge.

"Jackson, Underwood, get your butts over here! Leave the Prom Reject to Potter and her dog!"

The boys looked hesitant but at a quick nod from Andi, rushed off to help Clarisse and Annabeth.

Meanwhile, Hunter just shrugged off Polyphemus' blow like a champ and snarled at him with a snap of his jaws. Polyphemus took a few steps back and picked up a nearby boulder, one of many that littered the front lawn of his cave.

He made an attempt to throw it, but Hunter just lunged at him.

"Stay away!" The Cyclops cried out, using the rock like a club, smashing Hunter in the face with it.

Whining, the golden dog stumbled back, clearly shaken by the powerful blow

His owner was not pleased by that.

"You leave my dog alone!" Andi glared with anger as she drew her bow and fired a cluster of wind arrows at the Cyclops. Each exploded on contact, but they didn't do much damage, only managing to scratch him up a little. They did however force Polyphemus to cover his face to protect his eye and give Hunter enough time to recover.

Andi couldn't keep up her bombardment for long though, the exhaustion from her injuries quickly got the better of her. It left her panting and sweating profusely.

As the barrage ended, Polyphemus advanced but Hunter kept a wary distance. The two monsters sizing each other up as they circled each other.

"Ruining my wedding day! And I even made a nice cake for my now fake wifey!" The Cyclops complained.

"Huh, so there really was cake. Go figure." GLaDOS commented with surprise, still clutching onto Hunter's back with her mechanical arm.

Huh, so she was still around. Go figure.

Andi looked at the monster's legs and raised her hand up. With a twirl of her wrist, air began to dance around it. With a flick of said wrist, she sent the spiraling mass of air towards the Cyclops. As it made contact, the air exploded outward into ropes of wind that coiled around the monster's legs trying to snap them together.

However, the Cyclops just shifted its footing and in that single motion, effortlessly snapped the ropes. "Huh?" The monster said, looking down in confusion at what had happened

Andi looked wide eyed at how he'd just shrugged off her air ropes. _Seriously? I underestimated his strength by_ that _much? I really need to practice on something bigger._

Hunter took that moment to lunge once more, his maw stretched wide to bite his head off.

The cyclops was not too distracted to lash out with a kick though, one that scored flush against Hunter's chest. Polyphemus stumbled a little at the awkward move but recovered more quickly than Hunter and stalked forward, raising his fists in a bid to follow up by beating the dog's head in with an overhead blow of his meaty fists.

Andi hung on tight and saw the blow coming. "Hunter!" She cried out.

Her dog recovered just in time and stuck out with his paw, his nails digging deep into the cyclops chest, just as the cyclops swung down. He left three huge gashes on the monster, dying the baby blue rags red and purple.

Polyphemus backed off quickly, gasping in pain and patted his chest, looking down at it with his milky eye. He gripped his ruined outfit and snarled, giving Andi and Hunter a heated look. "Do you know how hard it is to get my size! Now I have to find someone to fix it!" In a fit of rage, he pulled the rags off. "Now I'm super angry!"

His humongous hands balled into fists once more and he charged at them like a crazed bull.

* * *

At seeing Andi, Percy was relieved.

The last he had seen the girl was when she was getting chomped up by Scylla. And then the ironclad had exploded, possibly taking Tyson with it.

The son of Poseidon couldn't lie, seeing his cousin and brother taken in the span of minutes, it weighed on him. He felt like he should have done something different. Anything. Maybe then they could have been saved.

But seeing her rush in to save them on that monster dog of hers? Well, he was thankful the hyper munchkin was alive.

"Jackson, Underwood, get your butts over here! Leave the Prom Reject to Potter and her dog!" Clarisse shouted at them.

Oh, and Clarisse too. He guessed.

Percy exchanged a look with Grover. Neither of them wanted to leave Andi to fight Polyphemus alone. Even with her giant dog. But they both knew it was the right thing to do. They needed to get the Fleece and now, with the Cyclops distracted, was the best time to go get it.

Andi nodding at them sealed the deal and the two rushed off to help Clarisse and Annabeth.

 _Hang in there, Andi. As soon as we get that glorified throw rug, we'll be back to help you._

As he caught up to Clarisse on the bridge to the other half of the island, Percy turned to the daughter of war. "What about Tyson? If you two managed to get away…"

Clarisse grunted at him. "Haven't seen him since we wrecked."

"Oh." Percy said, his fist tightening around his sword even as his cheer sank a little.

"Clarisse, how are Andi's injuries?" Annabeth asked, re-materializing as she took off her invisibility cap, glancing over her shoulder for a second to see the monster fight as she did so. "I saw bandages all over her."

The daughter of Ares visibly winced. "Bad."

"How bad?" Grover asked cautiously, as if afraid of the answer.

"Let's just get the Fleece, okay?!" The burly girl snapped at the satyr.

Annabeth clearly looked like she wanted more of an answer, but they got to the end of the bridge and found themselves up against a sea of hungry eyes and wool.

So questions were going to have to wait.

A few of Polyphemus' herd of pets had spotted them and were charging at them like hungry hungry hippos. Clearly that deer didn't fill them up in the slightest. Or maybe these were the ones who hadn't gotten a taste of Bambi's mom and just wanted some raw demigod and goat.

"Grover, talk to them." Percy whispered to the satyr, steadying his feet and readying himself to make some lamb chops.

"I would," Grover told him with a frightened laugh. "But the thing is, I just pissed off my fiance, who feeds them, so yeah...we all know what's on their minds." He told the son of Poseidon as he shuffled behind him while holding up his dress.

"Great."

"Less talking, more fighting." Clarisse told them as she leveled her spear at the approaching monsters. "Here they come!"

Clarisse met their charge. She stabbed at the first of the sheep, scoring a fatal blow in its throat.

Just as it fell to dust, another came at her, but Percy sprung into action.

Riptide sliced off its mouth in a flash, and before the monstrous mountain of wool could even register the pain, Percy sank the blade right into its forehead.

As gold dust splashed his feet, Percy asked Clarisse. "So, up for mutton?"

"Don't go stealing my kills, Jackson."

And just as a third charged at them trying to exploit the distraction that their minor banter had created, it was killed by an unseen foe.

"Can you two focus for five seconds?" Annabeth's voice rang out, she'd turned invisible already it seemed.

"Peh," Clarisse grinned. "You're no fun, Princess."

So they continued to fight wave after wave of hulking piles of unprocessed lamb hungry for half-blood flesh, Percy and Clarisse keeping score the whole time. Annabeth continued her sneaky kills, trying to thin the huge herd while Grover helped out as best he could by throwing rocks to keep the sheep confused and distracted.

After two intense minutes of fighting that left both Percy and Clarisse drenched in sweat and breathing heavily, Annabeth appeared in a shimmer next to them, her Yankees' hat in her hand. "We can't keep this up forever."

"Says you." Clarisse disagreed.

Annabeth just gave her a look and pointed at the herd with her dagger.

Only then did Percy understand what had happened. He'd been so busy fighting that he'd completely missed it as the hippo sized sheep had encircled them while keeping a good distance. And they all looked primed for a charge.

 _Huh, that's some smart sheep._

"So, anything else to say, or…?" Percy trailed off to Clarisse.

"Fuck you, Jackson."

"Thought so."

Just as they were about to become sheep feed however, an unexpected whistling sound announced their salvation in the form of a large boulder that landed on five sheep, flattening them into dust.

That caused panic among the wooly ranks, as more boulders started to rain down from out of nowhere.

"Bad sheepies!" A voice bellowed across the plateau like a fog horn.

Percy turned to see what was a sight for sore eyes.

Tyson, a boulder over his head, was charging up from the beach like a bulldozer. He threw his payload of rocky ammo at them as he went, picking up a refill without even breaking stride as he did, even when he had to tear it straight out of the ground.

With demigods on one side, and a cyclops lobbing boulders at them coming from the other, the few remaining sheep started to flee in terror.

"Tyson…" Percy breathed out, a happy laugh coming from his lips even as he smiled as widely as he could.

The demigod of Poseidon wasn't given much of a chance to celebrate Tyson's survival and triumphant return. Just as he was about to open his mouth to do so, a pained canine whine echoed across the whole island.

Everyone snapped their heads to the source and watched with horrified eyes as Andi's dog flew through the air for a good distance before crashing to the ground in a painful sprawl, Andi falling off his back in the process.

* * *

 _Argh, I feel like I was hit by the Hogwarts Express._ Andi thought to herself as she collected her wits after being thrown off Hunter. It was as she did so that she noticed something, she'd dropped Skyline!

A fact that was made increasingly important by the earth shaking footsteps and gods awful smell that was growing ever closer.

 _Where is it?_

Her frantic search was interrupted however when she was abruptly lifted into the air by two meaty fingers grabbing onto the back of her shirt.

"I's wonder how'd a little snack like you would taste? Needs comfort foods."

Andi's blood froze in her veins even as her mind was consumed with but one though. _Not again!_

Once more she was on the verge of being eaten by a monster and that fact was leaving her too terrified to act.

Hunter however was not held back and began to struggle to his feet. Unfortunately, Polyphemus was not completely blind and saw it. Reacting quickly, the cyclops kicked the dog in the head, hard.

Hard enough to knock the divine beast unconscious and back into his regular size.

The sight of her beloved dog being hurt was just the jolt to her system that Andi needed.

With a furious roar, the daughter of Zeus drew her drakon dagger from its ring form. A weapon that she rarely used because of the deadly poison that it was imbued with which made it incredibly risky to handle, especially in pitched battle where one wrong move could poison an ally or herself.

Right now though those worries were swept aside in the face of blind rage.

Without a hint of hesitation, Andi swung the deadly blade at the nearest bit of exposed monster flesh she could reach.

Unfortunately for the daughter of the skies, Polyphemus hadn't lived as long as he had for nothing. He may have been almost blind but that only meant that his other senses had grown more acute to compensate. It was these that warned the monster of the danger and allowed him to react in time.

"Poison!" The cyclops screamed as with a quick flick of a wrist he threw her away from him.

Even then Andi only missed her mark by inches.

"Damn it!" The daughter of Zeus cursed softly to herself as she manipulated the winds around her for a soft landing. _If only it was a little longer._

"Snack is poison." Polyphemus said accusingly, as if Andi brandishing a poisoned weapon to save her life was somehow against the rules. "I's crush!"

With that he grabbed a nearby boulder and prepared to toss it at the girl.

 _Oh shi-_

Andi didn't get the chance to finish freaking out though when she was saved by a taunting voice calling out from the other side of the ravine.

"Hey! Polyphemus!" The voice of Percy rang out, making Andi and the monster turn in his direction. In Percy's hands was the golden wool that they'd come for. "Thanks for the Fleece, you moron! It's all mine now!" He placed it on his shoulders as if he were king of the world, openingly laughing at the monster.

Polyphemus' boulder almost slipped from his hands.

"THAT MINE!"

With a roar of rage that shook the whole island, Polyphemus threw the boulder in his arms right at Percy and his group before running towards the rope bridge that separated them.

"Bad rock!" Tyson shouted in return, throwing his own boulder with keen accuracy. The two rocks collided and were sent off course to crash into the gorge.

As Polyphemus darted across the bridge, Percy raised Riptide.

With a sweep of the blade, he cut the supporting ropes just as the monster was in the middle of the bridge.

"See ya!" Percy grinned, giving a mock salute.

"AHHHA!" The cyclops wailed, flailing his arms as he fell to the ravine below.

* * *

Andi fell to her back as she panted for a moment, working to regain a sense of equilibrium after yet another very close shave with death. Finally collecting herself, she released a sigh of relief and put away her dagger.

"Thanks, Percy." She muttered.

"Andi!" Percy's voice called out from the other plateau. "Come on!" He waved at her, clearly indicating that she should join them.

Mustering what strength she had, Andi rolled to her stomach and pushed up with her good arm. Looking around, she finally caught sight of Skyline, glinting from the sunlight a ways off. Her everything hurt like you wouldn't believe, but she stubbornly fought past it and focused, willing the air to pick it up and float it over to her. It clattered next to her, and she turned it back to its keychain form.

Gritting her teeth and closing her eyes as she concentrated, the daughter of Zeus lifted herself slightly into the air. It was barely a hover, but it was enough to allow her to levitate the short distance over to Hunter. Falling into his sea salt scented fur, Andi's eyes scanned him worriedly, stroking his head.

"It's going to be okay boy." She promised as she looked at the group and shouted. "Give me a minute!"

"You know," The annoying voice of GLaDOS piped up. Andi craned her neck to see the AI using her tablet's single mechanical arm to pitifully drag herself towards the half-blood. "I'm still here right?"

"Oh."

Andi had honestly totally forgotten about the tablet.

The mechanical fingers latched onto Andi's ankle, not that the girl could feel it.

The child of Zeus looked at the gorge and down at Hunter. Taking a nervous glance at the gorge once more, Andi said. "How am I supposed to get across?"

"Fly you idiot!" Clarisse told her.

Andi was afraid of that. Hovering was ok. But flying? Like when she'd been almost torn apart? The mere thought of it brought back memories of crocodile heads and tentacle like necks. Of agony and torn flesh.

Floating herself and Hunter towards the edge, Andi looked down as a frightful yelp escaped her lips.

"I can't!"

The others looked at each other in confusion at the declaration.

Andi felt a sense of shame fill her. She knew she could do it. Once. Even loved it. Flying, that is. But not anymore. And the very idea made her just lock up, wanting to stay on the nice safe ground.

 _Some daughter of Zeus I am._ Andi thought to herself even as her heart raced and she fought for breath.

On the other side of the gorge, Clarisse seemed to have pulled Percy and Annabeth into a huddle of some sort. "She's got PTSD after what happened with Scylla."

Annabeth shot Andi a quick look, "She's breathing like she just ran a marathon all of a sudden. I think she's having a panic attack."

 _Oh, thanks for the diagnosis Doctor Chase._

So she was having a panic attack. Great. Fantastic. And she was talking to herself as it happened? _Bloody hell, I'm going crazy!_

"We're not exactly school counselors here." Percy pointed out. "How do we get her over?"

Annabeth flinched at that, "I have an idea. But it's not something any one of us will like."

Andi herself wasn't liking it already. Damn her super acute hearing.

"I think we've gotta try it anyways." Grover said nervously as he walked over from wherever he and Tyson had disappeared off to. "The sheep are getting restless. I dunno how long before they come at us again. Threatening them with boulders only lasts so long."

"So what's the plan?" Clarisse demanded at Annabeth.

The blonde shifted uneasily. "We use her Fatal Flaw."

The child of Zeus grew more annoyed at this. _I can hear you!_

Seriously, it's like people just forget someone's got super hearing or something?

"You're right." Percy said sounding angry. "I don't like this. Besides, can't she hear us?"

"Percy, shush. We're talking about the plan."

Clarisse's eyes seemed to widen for a moment before narrowing. "Yeah, Jackson. Shut up."

"You shut up." Percy shot back, glaring at her.

"Guys?" Andi called out to her friends. "Stuck on a plateau over here, hello!"

Andi barely picked up the sound of snickering, but ignored it.

"Give us a-" Grover began only to be cut off by Annabeth.

"Grover, I'm trying to think." The blonde chided him. "So keep quiet for a moment."

Percy frowned and turned to face Andi, but Clarisse stomped on his foot.

"Ah! You jerk!" Percy looked about ready to deck the daughter of Ares in the nose.

Andi had had enough.

Holding onto Hunter tightly, she grunted from his weight. _Okay, you are going on a diet._ With her grip firmly around his body, she started to float.

If there was one thing Andi hated, it was being ignored. If her friends wanted to squabble - which they were still doing - when she was flipping stranded! - then the daughter of Zeus had to give them a good reminder that she existed and would not be ignored!

The child of the sky started to slowly float across the gaping ravine, glaring at her friends as best she could.

There was no way something as stupid as some fear would keep her from being recognised.

She didn't even notice as she landed by them and shouted. "Stop ignoring me!"

Annabeth just smiled at her, glancing sideways at Percy. "And that's how you use a Fatal Flaw."

Percy looked stumped, and so did Andi.

"You, I, what?" The child of Zeus asked as she looked behind her, Polyphemus' home a good distance away now. Heart hammering, breath escaping her, Andi muttered. "I can't believe I did that."

"Potter," Clarisse said as she came over and knelt down to look Andi in the eye. "Breathe slower. Take deep breaths."

Andi nodded and obeyed.

Meanwhile, GLaDOS was cackling like a loon. "I can't believe how childish that plan was! I expected more from one of Athena's grey matter dolls."

"Excuse me!" Annabeth cried out, looking indignant.

Clarisse intervened, as Andi's breathing finally calmed down. "Ignore it, it's just a piece of trash."

"Who helped you get here~" GLaDOS reminded.

The daughter of war ignored that as she marched over to Percy. "Give Potter the Fleece, now. We've gotta fix her paralysis."

"What?" Percy said, looking wide eyed.

Annabeth and Grover just looked on slack jawed for a moment.

Andi was stunned that Clarisse would even ask for that.

"Paralysis? What paralysis?" Annabeth demanded after she overcame her shock. At the same time, she rushed to Andi's side radiating concern all the while.

"Scylla." Andi said by way of explanation. By the way the others winced, it was more than enough.

"Clarisse," Andi began while looking at the other girl thankfully.

But Clarisse saw the look and cut her off with a grunt. "I'm just covering my own ass. Okay, Potter? You got it?"

"Whatever you say, Clarisse." Andi said as she offered her a light smile.

Suddenly Percy gently placed the Fleece over Andi.

"It's heavy!" The tiny girl whined.

"Of course, it's made of gold." GLaDOS opined in her usual deprecating way. "What did you expect?"

"Something I could wear and not suffocate me." Andi rudely sniped back. And then the Fleece began to shift around her, changing shape. After a brief glow, the golden fleece had the appearance of a red-and-gold high school letterman jacket, with the Greek letter Omega printed on it.

"Better?" Annabeth asked, still clearly very concerned.

"Much."

It was hard to explain what she was feeling. But the moment the Fleece was put on her, warmth filled Andi like she was sunbathing. Her skin tingled and she felt a sense of peace overcome her. It was like she just wanted to curl up into a ball and take a good long nap in a flowery meadow or something naturey like that.

The daughter of Zeus' good mood was dashed however when the annoying AI once more made a snide comment. "It's still too big for you. You look like a little girl playing dress up."

"Shut up, bitch." Clarisse said as she moved to kick the tablet, only for Grover to stand in her way.

"Hey, hey, let's all calm down here. Alright?" The satyr said placatingly. "I know she's annoying, but she's a living thing just like you and me. I can sense it."

"She's a bunch of ones and zeroes, Grover." Clarisse told him bluntly, before adding darkly to herself in a volume that even Andi had to strain to hear. "Besides, even if she wasn't I'd still beat her up." She looked at Andi. "Why'd you even bring her over?"

"She latched onto my ankle, I think. I didn't really notice." Andi told her. "Plus, she's our guide out of here."

 _And I do feel sorry for what happened to her. A little._ Andi mused. _Though if she says something bitchy one more time? All bets are off._

Percy and Annabeth shared a look.

"Actually, Percy has perfect bearings on the ocean. We don't need _that_." Annabeth pointed out.

Percy just nodded, though he very obviously nodded at Grover as the satyr picked the tablet up. Obviously he was voting to take the AI along.

Looking down at Andi with worry, he asked. "You feeling better? Is it doing anything?"

Andi had honestly been too distracted by everything, especially the panic attack thing, to actually check until now. So she did a quick once over. The fall from Hunter's back had left her bruised and might have opened some of her older wounds, she wasn't honestly paying much attention then, not when Polyphemus had been breathing down her neck. Those were gone now, she'd reckon. They were under her bandages so she couldn't check, but there wasn't any pain from them now. As for the real problem, her lower body.

She looked down at it, trying to make herself move.

It was tiny, barely something a person would register, but Andi had felt it. A faint prickling sensation, a much fainter version of what she'd felt if her legs had simply fallen asleep. Tears slowly rolled down her scratched up cheeks. "I-I can feel them." She whispered in joy.

They had feeling in them! Sure, they were still mostly numb, but Andi could feel something from them!

Annabeth pursed her lips. "I guess the Fleece is going to take a while to fix the damage."

Andi didn't care if it took time, she was too overjoyed.

Clarisse heaved a sigh of relief, her shoulders slumping.

The daughter of Athena gave Andi a gentle hug, and so did Grover as Percy gave Clarisse a quizzical look. GLaDOS just snorted but everyone ignored the AI.

"I'm surprised you're being nice."

Clarisse didn't even muster a glare at him. "Shut it, Jackson. I'm just fixing my mistake is all."

Percy just shrugged at her.

The daughter of war just glared at him, while the others looked on in amusement.

"Ah! Head hurts!." A unwelcome voice slurred from the depths of the ravine, shattering the moment. "Where is this? Why am I here?"

Percy just looked up and said. "Seriously? One time." He grumbled and pointed to the swanky looking pirate ship off in the distance. "Come on, let's get out of here before he wants to have a family reunion."

"Percy!" Tyson shouted as he ran over to join them. "Bad cyclops is getting up."

"Yeah. I heard him, big guy."

"Where my Fleece!?" Polyphemus' bellowed.

"Tyson," Annabeth said, looking at the baby cyclops. "Can you carry Andi and Hunter? Gently? She's hurt."

"Andi hurt?" Tyson said worriedly even as used his big hands to gingerly pick up Andi and heft Hunter - and GLaDOS too, since she'd grabbed onto the dog's coat like a limpet, not that anyone paid her any mind - under his arm. Nestled in the crook of his arm, Andi held onto his sheep scented shirt.

Or was that the Fleece?

"Yeah. But I'm getting better." Andi said to reassure the cyclops. They could explain things better later when there wasn't a homicidal monster on their tails.

"Glads you better, Andi." He smiled brightly at the tiny demigoddess.

She patted his arm. "Me too, Tyson."

"Guys! We've gotta hurry. He's climbing the cliff fast." Grover observed from where he'd gone to peer cautiously over the edge.

They dashed to the beach, a few of the monstrous sheep seemed to think their mad dash was a sign to resume their attack but a little blade work from Clarisse and Percy easily held them off.

It didn't take them long before they were walking up the planks to the ship. Just in time to turn around to see the island's owner finish his climb up to the plateau and start to rage. "Thieves! Thieves!" He jumped up and down like a child for a bit, a very dangerous one though as he quickly added to this by reaching over for a boulder -Seriously, where did he keep getting those?- and cocked his arm back, letting it rip.

"Whoa!" Grover yelped, scampering away from the side of the ship as the stone learned in the water just a few feet shy of its target, sending a massive spray of water into the air. "You wife beater! That almost hit me!" The satyr shook his fist at the cyclops.

"Hurry up, hurry up!" Annabeth shouted at Percy as the son of Poseidon started giving commands to the ship. All whilst Polyphemus kept lobbing boulders in their direction, steadily adjusting his aim based on the slightest sounds - which he had plenty of in the form of the noisy preparations that Percy was making to get the ship going - and getting closer to scoring a direct hit.

"I'm working on it!" Percy told her, sidestepping a chunk of stone that fell off a boulder that just barely overshot them.

The flying boulders stopped for a moment as the sail unraveled and the winds picked up.

Clarisse grasped the railing and released a laugh. "In your face, Cyclops! You throw like a wimp! Just like your sheep! You're just a blind old-"

The child of Zeus glared furiously at Clarisse and shouted over her, saying. "Shut up! Don't tempt the Fat-!"

They didn't have time to even finish their sentences as a boulder flew right into the bow of the ship, shattering it.

Andi couldn't believe how fast a ship could sink. It was like the moment the rock hit them, it instantly started to creak and groan before listing forward like it was going down a playground slide.

Percy released a sailor-like curse and told Tyson to dive.

The sky child wanted to protest but Tyson jumped faster than she thought he could. Taking in as much air as she could, Andi held her breath while clinging to the cyclops' arm.

She closed her eyes to the salt water and didn't see what was going on around her. But Andi could guess that all around her, the others were trying their best to swim. She hoped they made it. She didn't know anything about shipwrecks but all that debris from the ship must make swimming while it went down difficult. At least she had a son of Poseidon to take care of her.

That faith was rewarded when she suddenly felt them suddenly pick up speed, and moments later break the surface of the water.

Andi's eyes fluttered opened and she noticed that they were riding three huge fish-like horses, Hippocampi. Clarisse and Grover shared one, so did Percy and Annabeth. Andi was practically glued to Tyson who was laughing happily as they raced away from Polyphemus's island.

Behind them, Andi could hear the Cyclops roaring in triumph, "I did it! I finally sank Nobody!"

 _Not really. But take whatever victory you can, you raging arse._

* * *

As they made it clear of the island, they all let out a relieved sigh. Finally having some breathing room, Andi decided it was time to settle something that had been bugging her since the fish ponies had shown up.

"Hey Tyson, you think you can call one more of these fish ponies?" Andi asked petulantly, as she tugged on Tyson's wet sleeve while completely ignoring Annabeth's correction of "They're called hippocampi!". She hated looking weak, especially when she wasn't. And thanks to the Fleece she was feeling great, like she had so much energy that she was about to burst.

"Why?" Tyson asked in genuine confusion.

"So I can ride on my own."

Tyson nodded and turned to have some kinda telepathic conversation with the one they were riding.

"Hm, Rainbow say no more fish ponies around right now."

Andi just gave a pout of epic proportions at this news.

Oh well, maybe next time.

Clarisse snorted. "You heard him, this is all we've got Potter. So just keep that yap shut, would ya?"

Then the daughter of Ares smiled in relief. Andi could understand what the other girl was thinking. She probably thought that if Andi was able to be what she called 'bratty' - Which she totally wasn't - that she was getting back to normal.

After all, the girl had over the past day or so often complained under her breath - which she thought Andi couldn't hear - that she wished for her to go back to being the brat she was and to stop making her feel guilty.

Andi didn't really know how to describe her relationship with Clarisse. They were comrades, definitely. Even friends of a sort. But they still hated tons of things about each other. So what were they? Frenemies?

Andi didn't know, but she didn't care. The daughter of Zeus was just glad that she was able to make Clarisse feel better.

Throughout the rest of the ride to the mainland, Andi and Tyson just chattered about everything under the sun from fish ponies, and crazy weapon ideas he could make for Percy, to a possible side business with garden gnomes to take advantage of Medusa's absence.

* * *

It took them an hour, maybe two - Andi couldn't be sure since she'd lost her watch with the Birmingham - before they spotted the skyline of a city in the distance. By now the sun was setting and it transformed a great view into something truly spectacular. All dyed in reds and oranges was a beachside highway lined with palm trees, storefronts glowing with red and blue neon, and a harbor filled with sailboats and cruise ships. Andi was enthralled.

"Miami, I think," Annabeth said, as she studied the cityscape. "But the hippocampi are acting funny."

Sure enough, their fishy friends had slowed down and were whinnying and swimming in circles, sniffing the water. They didn't look happy. One of them even sneezed.

"This is as far as they'll take us," Percy declared with a frown. "Too many humans. Too much pollution. We'll have to swim to shore on our own."

None of them were very psyched about that, but they thanked Rainbow and his friends for the ride. Tyson cried a little. He handed Andi and the still unconscious Hunter over to Percy for a bit before turning to unfasten the makeshift saddle pack he'd made, which contained his tool kit and a couple of other things he'd salvaged from the Birmingham wreck. He hugged Rainbow around the neck, gave him a soggy mango he'd picked up on the island, and said good-bye.

Once the hippocampi's white manes disappeared into the sea, they swam for shore. Andi had regained the ability to move her legs by now - Damn! The Fleece was powerful. - but she they were still pretty numb and she wasn't in any condition to even try to swim. Thankfully, between Percy and Tyson they managed to help her and Hunter - and the stowaway that was GLaDOS - along. Tyson steadied them with his strength while Percy commanded the waves to push the group forward, and in no time they were back in the mortal world.

The group wandered along the cruise line docks, pushing through crowds of people arriving for vacations. Porters bustled around with carts of luggage. Taxi drivers yelled at each other in Spanish and tried to cut in line for customers. If anybody noticed them—six kids and their dog dripping wet and looking like they'd just had a fight with a monster. One of them limping along with the help of the others. —they didn't let on.

Now that they were back among mortals, the Mist was out in full force again. It blurred Tyson's single eye. Grover took that as his cue and quickly put on his cap and sneakers to hide his horns and hooves.

While he did that, Annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box and checked the date on the Miami Herald. What she saw had her cursing. "June eighteenth! We've been away from camp ten days!"

"That's impossible!" Clarisse's face turned ashen at the news.

 _Stupid time distorting Sea!_ Andi scowled. She was really starting to hate time related stuff.

"Thalia's tree must be almost dead," Grover wailed. "We have to get the Fleece back tonight."

Andi nodded vigorously in agreement.

Clarisse slumped down on the pavement. "How are we supposed to do that?" Her voice trembled. "We're hundreds of miles away. No money. No ride. This is just like the Oracle said. It's your fault, Jackson! If you hadn't interfered—"

"Percy's fault?!" Annabeth exploded. "Clarisse, how can you say that? You are the biggest—"

"Stop it!" Percy said sternly, glaring at both daughters of war.

Andi gulped nervously at the sight. _Oh man, he's got that scary look again._

Neither of the girls were willing to look him in the eyes. Clarisse put her head in hands, while Annabeth looked away and stomped her foot in frustration.

"Maybe I can pray to my dad for a ride?" Andi blurted out any idea she could come up with.

Percy looked thoughtful at that. As if he'd just had some kind of epiphany.

"Clarisse," He said after a moment, "what did the Oracle tell you exactly?"

She looked up and took a deep breath and recited her prophecy:

 _You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone,_

 _You shall find what you seek and make it your own,_

 _Your life endangered in a cone of fire and stone,_

 _And fail without unexpected friends, to fly home._

"The ironclad, the Fleece, and the Battle-Cano." Andi looked wide eyed as she pieced together the Prophecy's meaning.

"Battle-what?" Grover looked confused.

"I think she meant Battle-Dome." Percy told the nature spirit.

"Not the time, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth chided.

"Uh, right. Hm, no … wait a minute. I've got it." Percy snapped his fingers, a grin on his face. He started to search his pockets for money, and found nothing but a golden drachma. "Does anybody have any cash?"

Annabeth and Grover shook their heads morosely. Clarisse pulled a wet Confederate dollar from her pocket and sighed.

"Cash?" Tyson asked hesitantly from where he was helping Andi stand. "Like … green paper?"

They all looked at him. "Yeah."

"Like the kind in duffel bags?"

"Yeah, but we lost those bags days a-g-g—"

The demigod of Poseidon stuttered to a halt as Tyson rummaged in his saddle pack and pulled out a Ziploc bag full of cash.

"Tyson!" Percy's jaw hung. "How did you—"

"Thought it was a feed bag for Rainbow," he said. "Found it floating in sea, but only paper inside. Sorry."

Annabeth quickly took the bag from Tyson and started counting the cash.

"How much do we have?" Percy asked. "We need enough for two people to make it back to camp."

Andi protested at that. "No, Clarisse should go alone. I can walk fine now. She can fly home to camp, and I can hang back with you guys."

Annabeth gave her a stormy glare. "Andi, you need the Fleece just as much as Thalia does right now. You are going on that plane, got it?"

Andi continued to protest but the others ignored her, besides the odd chiding look.

"There's six hundred dollars. It'll be tight but it should be enough." Annabeth said, as she finished counting all the money.

Percy nodded and ran to the curb. He quickly grabbed a taxi that was just letting out a family of cruise passengers.

"Clarisse," he yelled. "Come on. You're going to the airport. Andi, hop in. Tyson hand Clarisse Hunter and that computer."

"Tablet, you idiot." GLaDOS corrected.

"And I don't care." Percy retorted.

Annabeth pushed Andi along as Percy stuffed the cash into the letterman's jacket's pocket. Sighing in resignation, Andi accepted that this was how things were gonna play out after all.

Clarisse said, "You'd let me—"

"It's your quest," Percy said. "We only have enough money for a flight for two. Besides, I can't travel by air. Zeus would blast me into a million pieces. That's what the prophecy meant: you'd fail without friends, meaning you'd need our help, but you'd have to fly home. You have to get the Fleece back safely."

Clarisse's mind was obviously awhirl. She looked suspicious at first, wondering what trick Percy was playing, but then finally decided he meant what he said.

She jumped in the cab. "You can count on me. I won't fail."

"Not failing would be good."

Andi buckled up, and held Hunter's head. She looked at her friends and said. "Be safe?"

Percy just gave an assuring smile. "See you at dinner."

The cab peeled out in a cloud of exhaust and they were off to Miami International Airport to deliver the Fleece and save Camp and Thalia.

* * *

"The trip back was pretty much a blur to be honest." Andi said as she sat against the trunk of her sister's now healthy pine tree. It had been a few days after their triumphant return to Camp Half-Blood and Andi had woken up extra early to come visit her sister and share the story of the quest. "Hunter woke up during the taxi ride, gave the driver a scare he did. So after going through processing and Hunter going into his puppy form. Yeah, he's got a puppy form. Real cute."

Andi giggled at the memory of Clarisse claiming it was sickeningly cute. All while looking disgusted at how Hunter played it up. Though that hadn't stopped her from getting in her own hug.

Oh, the daughter of Zeus chided him for it when they got back, but that's neither here nor there.

"So anyway, some Mist to get Hunter a seat on my lap and we landed in JFK without a hitch." She said, looking very surprised at that. "Maybe the Fleece was helping us out or something. It couldn't have been so easy otherwise, right?"

There were a couple of other reasons why Andi hadn't remembered much of the trip back, but she wasn't going to share them. Not even with Thalia. She wasn't really ready to admit how she'd worried about Thalia being already dead. About how she'd been too late with getting the Fleece. She didn't want to let her sister, and any possible eavesdroppers, think she was a weakling that was plagued by a fear of failure.

More importantly, she didn't want to let anyone know how a big chunk of her had been worried selfishly about herself. About how whether the Fleece could really completely heal her paralysis. And even if it could whether it would do so before she had to pass it over to save Thalia. Whether she would be able to make that sacrifice when the time came. Andi hadn't been sure then and was too ashamed to admit that she'd ever been so selfish.

"Anyway, we took another taxi to camp and hung it up on that low branch of yours." Andi looked up at the glittering Fleece, radiating nature magic like a beacon. She was glad that in the end, she'd overcome her selfishness to willingly give up the Fleece for her sister's sake. The better reputation she got from the campers thanks to doing that was nice too she guessed. If she was honest with herself though, she was really just happy that by the time the Fleece was to be handed over, she had - thanks to Chiron and Cabin Seven - already been able to walk perfectly fine on her own. She wasn't sure if she'd have been able to give it up if she hadn't.

"That thing, I swear that little miracle is amazing." She stroked her now unblemished forehead. "It wiped away every single scar I had on my body, even that mark from Voldie."

"Oh what else is there to talk about?" Andi mused as she looked around the camp, spotting Chiron in the distance as he checked out something at the Dining Pavilion. "Right. So, Chiron is back at the helm of activities, and Tantalus got the boot from Mr. D." Andi looked out at the camp, it was still quiet because of how early it was, but that just meant Andi could have some private time with Thalia.

Her hand fiddled with a few blades of grass as she continued. "Me and Clarisse were hailed as heroes, though she got more credit than me. Which personally, I'm pretty okay with. I know! Surprising, right? Considering my Fatal Flaw and all? But she deserved it, really. After all, if not for her I'd be dead." Andi shook her head at that to drive away the morbid thought. "Anyways, Grover got rewarded too. The Council of Cloven Elders said something about how thanks to him now Searchers won't need to worry about straying into Polyphemus' trap."

The child of Zeus rested her chin on her palm, as she propped her arm on her knee and gazed out at the sea. "Tyson left sadly. Joined the forge in Atlantis. Real happy for him, but I'm really going to miss him too." Andi looked up at the pine. "And then there was GLaDOS. As soon as he got back, Chiron snagged it from us." She frowned at this. "He was actually quite spooked to see her actually. I wonder why. Anyways, as they left, I heard her ask Chiron about her daughter."

"But I totally wasn't eavesdropping. It's not my fault that I have super hearing." Andi hastily told her sister, totally ignoring the snort from Annabeth standing guard a few feet away. The campers had been given shifts to stand over the Fleece until Chiron could hire a more permanent guardian for the priceless artifact.

She looked away from the branches, looking a bit embarrassed. "But seriously, you gotta wonder how that girl turned out, what with having such a strange mother. Though, don't think I'll find out any time soon since Chiron said he had no idea where she was."

She looked off in the distance towards the chariot track and pouted. "Percy ended up winning the last race, but that was only because Bethy helped him out. So of course, with Super Bethy, they had a wicked ride. Tyson even gave Percy a pretty sleek shield too. I swear, me and the twins are totally going to beat the pants off them next time."

"Sure you will, Andi." The voice of Annabeth said, as she walked up to the tree wearing a leather tunic and helmet. Her arms crossed and a smile on her face, she asked. "You all done here?"

Andi hopped to her feet, smiling towards her friend. "Yeah." She placed a hand on the trunk. "Thanks for letting us have a few minutes alone, Bethy."

"It was nothing." Annabeth said with a shrug.

Andi thumbed to the Pavilion. "Want to get some breakfast? I hear a plate of pancakes with our names on them calling."

"Sure." Annabeth agreed easily. "We've just gotta wait for my replacement. My shift's almost over so it shouldn't be long now."

Dawn broke as the first rays of light for the day, streamed along camp, causing the Golden Fleece to shimmer brilliantly.

A thud was suddenly heard on the other side of the pine. Alarmed, both girls hurriedly rounded the tree, catching sight of something that stunned them as they did so.

There, lying sprawled among the roots was an unconscious girl. One that Andi recognized on sight, even if she'd never met her in person.

She had short black hair and freckles across her nose. She was built like a long-distance runner, lithe and strong, and she wore clothes that were somewhere between punk and Goth—a black T-shirt, black tattered jeans, and a leather jacket with buttons from a bunch of bands she'd never heard of.

Andi was overcome by a storm of emotions. She was happy, relieved, delighted, everything under the sun which was related to happiness.

"Welcome back, Thalia." Was what came out of Andi's mouth as she rushed to the girl's side, her smile broad.

Annabeth just stood stunned behind her, a look of shock and just a hint of wariness on her face.

* * *

 **Dun dun dun! Guess' who's back? From the land, guess who's back? Tell a friend~ It's Thalia by the by. Anyway, thanks to my team of Nameless and Axios as usual. And now, with the AN.**

 **Nameless: So Thalia is back. Is this a good thing for Andi? Will she live up to Andi's expectations of what a sister should be? Will Andi live up to Thalia's? Read the rest of the story to find out.**

 **Andi is cured! She's not going to be a cripple. Sorry for giving some of you a scare. Plus, we weren't really ready to take the story down that road either. So, with some powerful magic, and some doctor support, Andi's going to be just fine. Well, mostly, hope you noticed her sudden reluctance to fly.**

 **Nameless: I hope you did. 'Cos it's important. It's the reason we're using to push Andi to develop along a path that sets her apart from the demigod norm. What do we mean? Well… That's a secret for now.**

 **Think of when Percy got scared of drowning. It's an absurd concept, but he was...and was cured in the span of a few days. We're going to play that to be a touch more real. Andi had trauma, and it will affect her. Andi, who once loved to fly, now is scared to take to the skies where she once felt the most free. Will she get over it? Or will she be like Thalia and forever be a Flightless Wonder? Who knows!**

 **Nameless: Well we do, as I've said. But we're sadists who will withhold that knowledge till the appropriate moment in the story. Though if it's any hint, we're trying to avoid creating someone who's basically a clone of Jason combat-wise.**

 **On a side note, I hope some of you noticed that Clarisse had been...well, you're smart. You figure it out.**

 **Nameless: Here's a clue: It rhymes with swoon.**

 **Well, at least you didn't drop a character name.**

 **Nameless: Only because that'll be too obvious.**

 **Well, that's it for this chapter! Be sure to review, no flames, and peace off my peeps!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.**

 **The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans**

 **Chapter Six: Family Feuds**

 **Beta: ShadowofAxios**

* * *

Ice cold lemonade washed down Andi's throat as she sat in her seat across from Chiron on the porch of the Big House. The daughter of Zeus had just finished a few foot races with the dryads when she got word that the Camp's Activities Director wanted to speak with her. So the drink that the trainer of heroes had offered her upon her arrival was greatly appreciated.

Now, Chiron had been a busy centaur when he came back. According to him, the normal processes of camp were completely in disarray, probably due to Tantalus' laziness. So the Trainer of Heroes had to clean up after the spirit, with no help from Mr. D as per normal. The god might be the Camp's Director but, probably because he resented his job, he never did anything unless he absolutely had to.

Looking at the bearded immortal, you could just tell he was glowing over being back home. Honestly, it had been weird not having him around. So the daughter of Zeus was glad that he was back.

"Do you want a second glass?" His voice tinged with amusement as Andi polished off her drink.

"Yes please!" She eagerly said while holding up her empty cup, and he passed her the pitcher. Taking a sip from her refilled glass, she asked. "Glad to be back, huh?"

"You have no idea, my dear." Chiron smiled fondly.

Something tingled the back of Andi's mind and she couldn't resist asking him about it.

"So, what'd you do with GLaDOS? Haven't heard her grating voice for a while."

"Ah, yes." Chiron's bright face darkened a touch at the mention of the AI. Letting out a tired sigh, he replied. "Well, we've put her up in the attic for the moment."

"For the moment?"

"Yes, I've been trying to get in touch with someone about her." Chiron said evasively.

"Her daughter?"

Chiron raised a brow. "Eavesdropping, Andi?"

"It's not my fault that I have super-hearing." She replied, her cheeks feeling hot.

"You need to learn to be more responsible about that power, Andi." Chiron said, making a noise of disapproval.

"Yeah, learned that the hard way with your boombox."

The centaur smiled knowingly at that. If Andi had to guess, he probably knew just how much the campers hated his choice of favored music and had chosen it precisely because of said dislike.

"Good that you do." Chiron said as he once again adopted a stern visage. "Even if you inadvertently overhear something, remember that it is not meant for you and keep it to yourself."

The daughter of Zeus just sullenly sipped her lemonade.

"Fine. Whatever." Andi said dismissively. _It wasn't that big of a deal, why is Chiron making it out to be one?_ If she knew she would be coming for a lecture, she would have busied herself with something else.

Apparently unsatisfied with the flippant reply, Chiron pressed. "Andi, eavesdropping has killed people. How do you think spies learn sensitive information that their side can then use against their enemies?"

"It's not like I'm putting my ear to the ground to listen to the gossip or something." Andi mumbled out in her own defense.

"It's the principle of the matter, Andi." Chiron explained. "If you can't stop yourself with the small things, then what's going to stop you when it's something important?"

"Okay." Andi ducked her head at that. She hated feeling chided, but Chiron just seemed to have a mastery of the art. He always managed to make her feel guilty for the littlest things. "So, what did you want to see me about? Besides a share of lemonade?"

"Well, squeezed beverages aside, I had a talk with Clarisse over the quest in the Sea of Monsters."

Try as she might, Andi couldn't stop the small shiver that went down her spine.

"I heard you got pretty hurt. Are you feeling better now?" He asked with a worried look.

"Fit as a fiddle." She chirped, she was moving perfectly fine thanks to him and Cabin Seven after the Fleece did the bulk of her healing.

"Physically, yes. I can see that." He smiled, like he knew something she didn't. "But I was talking about how you felt mentally."

Andi's face gained a frown. No matter how many times she was asked, she just didn't understand why people would just ask about how she was feeling. No one asked her that before she came to Camp, ever. Not the Dursleys, not the staff at Hogwarts, not even Ron or Hermione.

But it was like they wanted her to be more of an open book here at Camp.

Honestly, it made her scratch her head in confusion.

"What's with all this talk about my feelings? I mean everyone asks me about it all the time."

"I look after the welfare of all my campers, Andi. Both physically and mentally." Chiron stated factually, a finger in the air. "You went through a traumatic experience. It's hard to just come away from that clean."

"I was fine, I toughed it out. I got better. The end." Andi answered in a clipped tone. She stared as condensation rolled down the glass in her hands.

"No, it's not." Chiron retorted.

She bristled. "It is. Water under the bridge, over and done with."

"Really?" Chiron said skeptically. "Then you haven't developed an aversion to flying?"

"Wha? Psh, of course not." Andi snorted trying to play it cool, but she was sweating bullets. After what happened, Andi hadn't flown at camp once. Something that a lot of people had noticed too. It was hard not to when she'd previously regularly zipped through the air from one activity to another just for the heck of it when the mood struck her.

Now? She felt like a dodo. Flightless.

It bothered her, Andi wouldn't lie to herself, but she wasn't one to bother others with _her_ problems. She'd deal with them in her own way, at her own pace.

"Andi, there's no need to pretend otherwise." Chiron said in a soothing tone.

"I'm not pretending!" Andi ground her teeth, her shoulders hunched around her head.

Chiron gave a tired sigh, before he began ticking off his finger. "One, you've stopped flying around camp. Two, you've not flown even once when you train with your powers. Three, even when you evade attacks during spars you've not used flight. Need I say more?"

Andi looked away, unwilling to admit anything even if she knew she'd been caught in the act.

"There's no need to hide the truth from me, Andi."

"Fine, okay!" Andi snapped, her eyes dampening. "I'm afraid to fly, the one thing that I loved so much. Now, I feel like I'd shite myself if I got more than five feet off the ground. I took pride with being able to fly freely through the sky, and now I'm a total failure! All because of one fuck up." She glared at him with watery eyes, streams pouring down her cheeks. "There? Happy? Anything else you want me to say?"

"That one mistake almost killed you, Andi." Chiron offered comfortingly as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's normal for it to have a long-term effect on you."

"It shouldn't, I shouldn't feel this, this pathetic over it."

Chiron looked her in the eye for a long moment as if considering something.

"No you shouldn't." Chiron said after a long moment. "You've faced death before and it didn't have this kind of impact." The centaur hummed a bit at that. "And you got away, but not without cost."

Andi winced.

"The cost?" Chiron said his eyes narrowed. "This has affected you so badly because it left you paralyzed?"

The daughter of Zeus' mind skittered away from the mere mention of the word. Her hands shook and if the centaur had not steadied them, she'd have dropped her glass.

"I'm sorry." Chiron said with a sad smile. "I should not have mentioned that."

With a sniffle, Andi nodded. The whole experience, of being paralyzed was still too traumatic for her to even think about.

"I wouldn't have minded dying." She freely confessed after calming herself down. "At least I'd go out a hero or something, get my job with Hecate. But just being stuck like that for the rest of my life? I-I couldn't do it." Andi shook her head. "Not walking, being looked down on or just seen with pity? No way. I couldn't stand it, it'd make me feel worthless."

"Which for someone with your Fatal Flaw would be the worst fate imaginable." Chiron acknowledged with a knowing nod.

Andi looked away, unable to look into her mentor's understanding and sad eyes.

Chiron gave Andi a moment to recollect herself, before he continued with his questioning. "I have to ask though, Andi, if you were feeling this way, why didn't you talk to someone about it?"

"It was my prob-" Andi began to deflect but cut herself off at the raised brow and overt skepticism that Chiron radiated.

"Fine." Andi said in a whine. "It's because the whole thing about the paralysis? When it first struck me, I'd just thought that Annabeth, Percy and Tyson had just died and all I could really think of was myself? How selfish is that?" Her shoulders sagged, sounding bitter.

"I see. Is being selfish why you always run from your issues?"

Andi winced, thinking over the question. _Do I? Oh gods, I do._

"Calm yourself, Andi." Chiron said, patting her hands calmingly. "Even if it is, it's not necessarily a bad thing. It's very normal. Suffering people rarely think of others. And you've suffered more than most. I'd imagine that to live through that you've had to think only about yourself, if you wasted effort on thinking about others you wouldn't have survived."

 _Dursleys, Dursleys, Dursleys! What else could he be talking about? Why can't they just leave me alone already!?_ Andi thought to herself as she tried to figure out if what Chiron said was true. She honestly couldn't be sure, but it sounded right, so she nodded along.

"Well, I still think it makes me a shitty person." Andi confessed in a quiet, weak voice.

"You are not a bad person." Chiron said with a surety that Andi wished she shared. "But if you want to be a _better_ person, I do have a few suggestions."

"What?" Andi said eagerly. She honestly didn't like the way she sounded. So needy, so desperate. But she couldn't help it, she really, really wanted answers on how to make things better.

"Well, first, you'll need to be more honest with yourself. I know it's hard, painful even, but it will help you immensely as you work through your issues," Chiron said sagely. "And beyond that, you will also need to take the feelings of other people into consideration more as well. Doing so will improve the quality of your friendships a great deal."

"That sounds doable." Andi said hesitantly.

"It won't be easy." Chiron reminded her seriously.

"I know that, Chiron." She offered a tiny smile. "But I think I can manage."

"I'm sure you will." The centaur said with an encouraging smile of his own. "Just remember that I'm always here to talk to if you need it."

Andi nodded.

The two spent the next few minutes sitting on the porch in companionable silence as Andi finished her drink. Chiron offering his silent support and Andi basking in it.

Not for the first or last time, Andi felt grateful to the gods that she'd made it to Camp and met great people like Chiron.

* * *

 _What am I doing here?_ Thalia thought in her head, arms crossed as she and a few other campers gathered around the canoe lake dressed in swimsuits. They were having a swimming lesson of all things. _Like I need to learn to swim. What am I? Five._

She glanced at Andi, who was chattering with Percy, the son of Poseidon. It still made her snort mentally, of course Poseidon would break the oath too. But no, her sire had to break it thrice before his brother got in on the action.

And don't even get her started with how clingy the girl acted around her, like they were the best friends or something. Thalia gets out of a tree and she just barges in before she could even get her bearings?

 _Seriously, you'd think someone would have installed a mute button by now._

"So, you want a kickboard?" Percy asked Andi, a smile on his face.

Andi's cheeks puffed up, like the bratty kid she was. "No, they're for kids. I can handle this, Baywatch."

"Learning to swim is for kids too." He shot back, making the small girl's face pink.

 _Exactly. So why am I here again?_

Thalia glanced over further down the lake, a gaggle of campers were parked there. She knew that they were friends of Andi, which explained why some were giving her kind and encouraging looks or tossing around a few words of guidance and so on. It just felt annoying to the elder daughter of Zeus.

 _I could be in the arena training or something. You know, something productive. But I have to 'listen' to my Head Counselor._

Thalia still called foul on that. She was older than Andi, which in her mind meant that she should be in charge of Zeus Cabin. But that didn't seem to be the case. Andi was here first, and had finished two quests and that meant that she had right to rule the cabin. So unless Thalia got a quest under her belt, she couldn't even challenge the runt for that right!

The punk girl was already regretting getting out of the tree. Seven years and the world was just more annoying and a hassle.

She just stood ankle deep in the water, watching disinterestedly as some of the younger campers tried to do the crawl or the stroke. Percy was helping those who were having the most trouble, like Andi. Big shocker.

Her arms were crossed, her finger tapping her bicep as Thalia's frustration built. In fact, it built to the point that she released a static charge.

Not a big one mind you, just a small one. Andi and Percy were the only ones close enough to even feel the shock. That didn't stop them from making it a big deal.

Percy let out a pained cry, "Ah, what the heck!"

Andi got to her feet, looking at him in concern. "You okay?" she asked.

Percy held his chest, nodding as he turned to glare at Thalia.

She just narrowed her eyes right back and turned around, stalking off. "This is a waste of my time."

 _I'm so over this._

"And this is why you're my favorite daughter of Zeus. At least you don't try to kill me." Percy's voice sounded off, no doubt trying to bug her.

 _Like I care whether you like me, you sea spawn._

Thalia could hear whispers from the other campers.

"Another Mount Zuesette?"

"Wha? Nah, way tamer. Not even close to being flashy enough."

"True. I guess Andi is still more scary."

"Totally."

Her fist balled, Thalia just headed back to her cabin to change. They were just talking bullshit. There was no way that the little brat -who wouldn't stop calling herself her little sister- was more powerful than her.

Right?

* * *

Andi breathed out her nose, Skyline clasped tightly in her hand. The blue static veins giving off its usual glow as she fiddled with the wind string. Glancing over to Thalia, she could see her taking instruction from Chiron.

"Now, just like that." The trainer pointed out and Thalia let an arrow fly. It let out a thud as it hit the target, its placement on the third ring. It was pretty mediocre, even if it was her best shot of the day.

She noticed that Thalia would keep shifting out of the stance Chiron showed her, as if trying to get comfortable. Andi had seen it before. Thalia was a novice with the bow and arrow -if Andi was feeling generous, she really was a rank amateur - and like other novices she was still having trouble maintaining a proper stance.

Her feet were too spread, she looked stiff in the shoulders, and was pulling as far as she could on the bow for each shot.

Each one as mediocre as the last. Not one bettering the third ring shot from earlier.

"You just need a bit more practice." Chiron told her with an reassuring smile.

An idea formed in Andi's mind. Thalia was always going off about wanting to focus on learning things that could help against monsters. Archery was something that fit the bill.

So if Andi helped her with it. Helped her with something she wanted to learn. Maybe then Thalia would start to warm up to her.

When Chiron called her up for her turn, Andi decided to spring her plan.

Taking her stance, Andi created a wind arrow. It was second nature to her, as natural as breathing for her. Quickly, she fired at the target in the lane to the left, and as soon as it left her bow, Andi made a second arrow, firing it to the right.

The two arrows curved, flying right towards the target in Andi's lane.

Andi pulled a third arrow, and let it fly.

As one, in a feat of incredible timing, all three arrows struck the dead center of the target, making a tight cluster.

She beamed at the success and turned towards Thalia, as Chiron gave her an A+ for the shot.

All the youngest of Zeus' daughters got was a stony face, Thalia's jaw tight.

With butterflies doing acrobatics in her stomach, Andi asked. "So, you want me to help you with your archery? I know a few tricks."

Whatever hopeful feeling she had over this idea, sank faster than her in water. Thalia just tossed her bow to the ground and walked away.

"I don't need help from a damn show-off."

She couldn't lie, that stung. Andi fought back the urge to cry a little. She turned to Chiron, confusion written all over her face and asking what happened.

"It's ok Andi." Chiron said with a soothing smile. "Thalia just wants to find her own place at camp."

Andi noted that the centaur had not pointed out that Thalia hadn't meant it. They both knew the older daughter of Zeus very well did.

"B-But I was just trying to help!"

"I believe she wanted to do it on her own."

Andi shook her head. "I'm her sister, I should be helping her."

The centaur pursed his lips. "I believe she's still adjusting to the fact that she has a sibling."

"But I _am_ her sister." Andi repeated.

Chiron frowned a little at the vehemence Andi said that, but did nothing else to indicate the growing discomfort Andi could sense from him. Instead, he continued in a calm voice, "I would suggest going slow with her, Andi."

That didn't make her feel any better, but the sky child merely nodded. "Fine, I'll convince her eventually." With that said, she dashed off to her next lesson to make herself feel better.

In the process, completely missing Chiron's worried look.

* * *

Seated in his wheelchair disguise on the patio of the Big House, Chiron was looking at his wristwatch with a frown. "He's late. Again."

Andi snorted. Unsurprised that Percy was running late. The boy had a tendency to do that.

She and Thalia were seated on either side of him at a table overlooking the whole valley in which Camp resided, as they waited for Percy for their lesson on how to manipulate the Mist. It was Thalia's first, and actually Percy's as well.

Only because he kept missing them. If it was on purpose or not, no one knew.

"He's probably caught up in something. You want me to hear what he's up to?" Andi asked Chiron carefully, knowing he was still upset with her over how she often used her superhearing recklessly.

"No, it's quite alright." Chiron said sending Andi a mildly chiding look at the mere suggestion.

She just shrugged back, she was just trying to help.

A satyr bounded over to them, he had an annoyed look on his face. "Percy asked me to tell you that he's sorry, he can't make it. Some campers threw some litter into the lake, the nymphs are pissed to the point their hair is boiling. He's trying to smooth things over."

Chiron pinched the bridge of his nose. "How many times do I-! Well, I know what movie we are all watching tonight."

"An environmental one?" The satyr perked up.

"Yes, prepare the most agonizing one you can find."

The satyr smiled and ran off on his furry legs, even as both girls groaned. They were so gonna make those idiot litter bugs pay for this.

Chiron clapped his hands together and smiled at the girls, ignoring their pained noises. "Well girls, it seems Percy will have to make up this lesson at a later date. Still, let us not be deterred by this."

Andi cheekily added with an impish smile. "Oh, he will. But only if he isn't forced to dodge it. Again."

Chiron gave her a smile of amusement at this.

At the easy camaraderie between the two, Thalia eyes shone with something that Andi refused to put a name to.

"Well, let's get started shall we?" Chiron said with a smile. "Andi, why don't you go through the exercises we did last time as a warm-up while I help Thalia get started?"

Andi nodded and did as she was told, conjuring some Mist and weaving them into some simple illusions. At the same time, she spied on what Chiron was teaching Thalia.

It was the basic stuff, but Thalia still looked like she was having trouble trying to get a handle for it.

Andi could understand how tough it could be for someone without some magical know how. Andi's magical studies at Hogwarts had helped her learn about manipulating the Mist before she had even known what it was. While it was true that not all magic involved the Mist, enough of it did that Andi had something of a head's start. She had lucked out it seemed.

Moistening her lips, Andi tried to offer some minor suggestions. Just tips were fine, right?

"Maybe try not focusing so much on your feelings when you're shaping it. You gotta push them aside and really connect with the Mist." The youngest of Zeus' children suggested. _That wasn't showy, right?_

Thalia just grunted. "I've got this." She said, a white mass of Mist fluxing between her palms. "I can do it on my own. Go do your own exercise, you busybody."

The British girl was hurt by that, feeling confused on what she did wrong this time. Not wanting to make more of a mess of things, she zipped her lips and focused on her own work. Even as she heard Chiron chide Thalia for what she'd said.

 _Seriously, anything I say just makes her angry with me._

After a few minutes, Thalia made a sound of triumph and exclaimed proudly. "Yes! Got it."

Hovering in front of her was a mass of Mist which to Andi looked indistinct but which must have looked to Thalia and Chiron like whatever illusion the older girl was working to create.

"Very good, Thalia." Chiron said with a slightly strained smile. "Now then, keep practicing with that while I check on Andi."

He did so, looking around for what the magical girl had been working on. Andi just shot him an innocent smile at him, hinting to him that he needed to find it himself.

Andi ignored how Thalia snorted at her little game.

"Hm," He mused at her, a twinkle in his eyes as he pointed to the card table where a lone diet coke can sat. "He always finishes it, Andi. And amazingly cleans up after himself. Good try though."

She just snapped his fingers at him. "Oh well, next time for sure."

"I relish the challenge." Chiron said with an almost mischievous look in his eyes. "How about trying again? This time on a slightly bigger scale?"

"How much bigger?"

"Hm, how about a whole scene? That should be a nice step up from simple objects."

"Isn't that a big step up?" Andi asked a little uncertainly.

"Perhaps," Chiron said challengingly. "But are you saying you aren't up to the task?"

Electric blue eyes narrowed. "Get ready to have your horseshoes knocked off."

Inhaling softly, Andi spread her arms out, flickers of Mist wafted on her palms. Softly pushing forward, the gathering Mist flowed off her form and covered Chiron in a light haze.

While the illusion was supposed to be a whole scene, in the grand scheme of things it was pretty simple. As all the best illusions were, something Chiron had taught her once. After all, the more complex the illusion, the easier it was to find faults in.

In this case, the illusion made Chiron believe he was facing off against Mr. D in a good ol' game of pinochle. Something helped along by the fact that they were all already seated around a table on the porch of the Big House where the two played such games so very often.

Andi was half tempted to have Mr. D win, just to see a stunned look on Chiron's face. But sadly, she had to keep this _somewhat_ believable.

She and Thalia were still there too. Just that instead of being the focus of Chiron's attention, they were just sitting on the sidelines, practicing the Mist while the centaur and the god dueled for supremacy.

Chiron examined the scene for a moment, before he waved his hand and dispelled the haze.

Looking greatly amused he offered his critique. "A clever scene. Though there was a number of flaws. First and foremost, the splendid hand. You're better off giving your target something more believable, something less generous. Any doubt, any skepticism over even a small detail can spell failure. Even if it's doubt over good fortune."

Andi bobbed her head. "So just make it more close next time?"

"Yes, in this scenario." Chiron said with a nod, even as he groaned in frustration. "But you need to remember to not just focus in on this scenario but apply this idea more broadly as well. To avoid failure, you need to make things believable to your targets. So avoid scenarios that are too much in their favor or too against them."

She just clicked her tongue at that.

"Don't be afraid to let your target fill in the blanks." Chiron continued after giving Andi a moment to let that sink in, "That's half the power of the Mist. Just craft the bare bones of the scenario you want and then let them think what they _want_ to think."

He then proceeded to critique and nitpick some minor details until Thalia's voice chimed in.

"Are we done with the lesson now?" She asked the centaur, making the other two break away from the conversation that they had become so engrossed in. She had her chin resting in her palm, a bored look on her face.

Andi was a little startled by her announcement, she had almost forgotten Thalia was there. A frown tugged on her lips though, feeling somewhat put out. She had been pretty patient when it was Thalia's turn. Was it really so hard to wait as she finished her own?

Chiron had a disapproving look on his face, but just sighed. "Yes Thalia, you may go."

With a parting wave towards the centaur, the elder daughter of Zeus hopped to her feet and marched off to do something else.

The trainer turned back to Andi. "Apologies for the interruption, now, let us continue"

Andi waved it off tiredly, a sag in her shoulders. "It's fine...can we call it here? I'm feeling kinda tired."

In truth, she just wasn't into the lesson that much anymore. Not after yet another reminder that her sister didn't like her.

Releasing a breath, Chiron nodded. "Yes, go enjoy yourself, Andi. You did well today."

Funny, she didn't feel like she did.

* * *

It was time for weapons training in the arena. Usually, Andi's weapons class consisted of the cabins with less campers. Cabins One, Three, Four, and Twelve. But it was just cabins One and Twelve today.

It was Chiron's idea. He didn't want Thalia to have too many gawkers. Something about making her get more comfortable at camp.

Clarisse had taken over the class this summer as the instructor and clearly relished it.

Thalia seemed to be in the zone, surging with excitement. Literally, she was sparking a bit.

Andi on the other hand felt nervous as she slashed up her practice dummy with little to no enthusiasm.

Something that her buddy from Cabin Five had noticed within three minutes.

Clarisse came over, a scowl on her face and arms crossed. "Come on Potter, you've hacked that thing to bits. You don't suck this much."

Andi's pitiful swing proved that as she missed a decapitation.

Sighing, Clarisse rubbed her eyes with her fingers. "Okay, what's your beef?"

Andi looked around her, nervous someone might overhear. She motioned Clarisse to come closer. Complying to her request, Clarisse leaned down.

"I'm, I'm not feeling that into a straight up fight anymore." She confessed, looking embarrassed.

The daughter of war knitted her brow. "This because of Scylla?"

The youngest daughter of Zeus just gave a small nod.

Clarisse grunted, a frown on her face. "Well, we've got to work on finding you a new combat style that you will feel better with then." Her beady eyes squared on Andi. "You just love making my job harder, Potter. But for now, just continue with what you've got, you'll need something to fight the monsters with."

Giving a nod to her instructor, Andi began to contemplate what she could do to change some of her tactics up.

"Hey, teach." Thalia called out, though the way she referred to Clarisse as the instructor was perhaps a touch condescending. "We doing some spars or what?"

"I don't know, Mosshead, you going to go shock happy like you did with my cabin?" Clarisse sent a sneer the punk girl's way.

Thalia just shrugged in an uncaring fashion. "They said I could give them hell, so I did."

Clarisse just mumbled curses under her breath that Andi didn't need super-hearing to understand. "Sure, whatever." She looked at the Dionysus twins, who quickly backed away from Thalia. "Nope, not them I guess."

The eldest of Zeus' demigods nudged her chin at Andi, making the little girl's throat tighten. "How about my daring Head Counselor?"

The daughter of war looked ready to axe that idea the second it was said, probably in consideration of the problems Andi was having with her current fighting style, but Andi spoke before she could.

"Yeah, sure."

Clarisse turned and raised an eyebrow at her. Andi just gave her a tiny nod. She didn't know why, but maybe just having a fight with Thalia would get her some respect from the older girl. Honestly, Andi had no clue what to do with her sister at this point. But if she wanted a fight, well okay.

The instructor scowled, but allowed it.

The two daughters of Zeus stood in the center of the arena. Both brandishing their chosen weapons. To make things fair and to prevent fatal injuries, they were banned from using magical weapons and were using issued practice weapons. Thalia had chosen to go for a spear while Andi elected to go with a sword.

"Okay, make it clean. Got it?" Clarisse ordered as she eyed each combatant in turn.

"Whatever." Thalia answered flippantly, Andi just nodded.

"Right then, fight!"

Thalia flashed her palm forward, a blue static bolt shooting down her arm and through the air to strike Andi.

On impact, the electricity crackled around Andi, who was completely unharmed, as she shot an amazingly unimpressed look at her sister. "If electricity doesn't hurt you, why would it hurt me?"

Thalia's freckled face tinged an angry red, as if they just realized they were related or something.

"That was just to make sure you your head in the game, brat." Thalia said as she charged.

As soon as she got in close, Andi called on her powers over the wind and leapt backwards, landing a safe distance away.

Thalia frowned at her, charging at her once more, spear primed for stabbing. "Stand still and fight, you show off!"

Nervousness filling her, Andi leapt once more over Thalia, waving her hand under her. A gust knocked up dust, making a visible cloud condense around Thalia, who ended up hacking and coughing as the vapour filled her lungs.

"Come on Potter! Punch her in the face!" Clarisse shouted at her in encouragement.

"Aren't you supposed to be impartial?" Castor asked.

"Screw that, the tiny one's more bearable."

"Can't argue with that." Pollux agreed.

"Shut up!" Thalia shouted at the spectators even as she discharged a burst of static to disperse the cloud.

At her getting distracted, Andi sent a squall right at Thalia, knocking her off her feet to fall flat on her back. It was the perfect opportunity for Andi to close and finish the still disoriented Thalia off, but the mere thought sent Andi's stomach churning and she hesitated.

The hesitation was more than enough to give Thalia the time she needed to storm to her feet, glaring at Andi. "Can you stop making me look like an idiot!?"

"You do that all on your own already!" Clarisse jeered, even as the Dionysius twins snickered into their hands.

"Screw you, Pigface." The elder daughter of Zeus cried out as she sent a wave static in all directions. Clarisse and the twins ducked out of the way, shouting angrily at Thalia's indiscriminate attack all the while. Andi moved to capitalise on Thalia's seeming distraction again, when unexpectedly a static bolt struck right at Andi's feet. The explosion sent rock and dust flying right at her.

Andi covered her face, pebbles smacking her body and dust blocking her vision and filling her lungs.

Just as she was about to blow the dust away, Andi felt something tackle her from the side. Caught completely off guard, she fell to the ground hard. Groaning in pain, she blinked the dust out of eyes and looked up to see a spear point at her throat. Thalia was grinning down at her, like she had won the lottery or something.

"Turnabout is fair play." Thalia said smugly. "Oh, and I win."

"By being an asshole." Clarisse commented as she came out of cover and marched over. She got right into Thalia's face, literally. She stood so close to the punk girl that their faces were only a few inches apart, Clarisse having a few inches over her. "Class over, get out of my arena."

Thalia just flared her nostrils and turned around, almost smacking Clarisse with her spear in the process. She marched away, tossing the practice weapon at the rack where it smacked against the wood with a loud bang before falling to the ground. Not even looking back, she left to do who knew what.

The daughter of war turned to Andi, and helped her to her feet. "Not going to lie, kinda disappointed. You had her at your mercy Potter."

Andi gave a sad look. "Sorry."

"If it was the old you, you'd have wrecked her." The taller girl stated. "And that would have been a good thing. That girl needs a good boot up her ass. She's a total bitch."

"She's my sister."

"Doesn't act like it." The burly girl retorted, a knowing look in her eye that made Andi turn away.

"Like yours are any better." Andi mumbled out.

"And that's a good thing?" Clarisse asked with a skeptical raise of an eyebrow.

"Clarisse, we're heading out!" Pollux called out from where he and Castor were putting away their practice weapons and cleaning up after Thalia. Clarisse gave them a distracted wave in acknowledgement.

"See you guys!" Andi replied as she gave them a far more enthusiastic wave goodbye.

"It was a good fight, Andi." Castor called back as the two headed for their next activity.

"Like I said, the girl's a bitch. And this is _me_ saying it." The child of Ares grunted. "She acts as if she's something special, even more than you do. But you're marginally more tolerable about it. I mean at least you have some accomplishments to back you up. Her?" Clarisse snorted then. "Woohoo, fought the Furies and a hellhound army, got turned into a tree. Slow clap."

"She almost died." Andi said in Thalia's defense.

"Because she gave up." Clarisse countered. "She could easily have fought a fighting retreat. But no! She just gave up and used the noble sacrifice card to justify herself. Bullshit!" The brutally honest girl snorted again as she walked towards the weapons rack with Andi's practice sword, the other girl trailing behind her.

"But-" Andi tried to cut in halfheartedly.

Her friend ignored her though and continued with spelling out why she disliked Thalia. "Even when you couldn't move your legs, you got weepy sure, but you still tried to get back up. With paralyzed legs! Unlike that bitch, Potter, you didn't give up."

Andi thought back to her talk with Chiron, how she tended to run away from her problems. She felt she fell into that category, but here Clarisse was telling her otherwise.

Andi was getting confused.

* * *

Andi sat on the steps of the amphitheater as music ranging from beautiful to something that sounded more like someone choking on a wishbone than anything musical filled the air. Or at least it would have were one able to listen to the players individually. Sadly, that was not how sound worked and it was all meshed into a blob of sound and along with her hearing, well, Andi did her best to try and learn how to lower the volume of sound around her for her own benefit.

It was her first music class. It was something that some of her friends had suggested she try. A more relaxing lesson in comparison to all the trying activities that she usually did that would serve as a kinda break. It was either this, or go through one of Annabeth's arts and crafts courses where she'd build skyscraper birdhouses with their own hot tubs and reasonably priced rent.

So here Andi was, taking a class with Cabin Seven at the lead with some from Cabins Four and Ten attending.

Lee Fletcher was head of the class, bobbing his head to the mishmosh of sound, like he could differentiate them perfectly. "Hey, Cyla, up the tempo some more. Brice, come on, you've got a guitar, give me more umph! Denis, bring it back, no solos for you. We had this talk dude."

The daughter of Zeus played on the brass harmonica -or what passed for it, she only really managed to make "toot" like sounds on the thing so far- in her small hands. Lee had presented her with a large range of wind instruments to pick from, since in his words; "You've got the lungs of a Navy Seal. Use them."

"Hey Andi, maybe you should try some string too?" One of Will's siblings suggested as they all took a short break.

Andi shuddered a little at the very notion. It had been enough of a pain to pick the harmonica. From the flute, to anything brass, to an ocarina -Seriously, what was this Zelda thing that got everyone tickled when she picked it up?- to even a didgeridoo, Andi had tried many an instrument.

But none really felt right, so she picked up the small but loud instrument. It honestly still didn't fit perfectly, but it was close enough. And Will may have suggested it to her after the didgeridoo slipped from her hands and beamed someone on the head. Less chance of injuring someone, he had said.

"No, smaller the better." Another said clearly remembering the didgeridoo incident. "I don't want to get bashed in the head by a cello."

"Okay, chill out guys." Lee cut in. "Stick to wind instruments, Andi."

"Yup." Will affirmed. "Practicing with them will strengthen her breathing and vocal cords and help with her sonic powers."

"T-That's not how powers works at all." Someone from Cabin Four said. "That's like saying Jackson gets better with water by swimming."

"Well, maybe not the sound manipulation itself." Will agreed. "But she does need to take breaths between her cries, right?" Andi nodded. "So if she can build up her lung capacity then she can cry longer and more often."

Lee slumped over his acoustic guitar. "Great, she can already take down a house. At this rate? I worry about her in a city."

Andi's cheeks burned hot at that. "I'm not that bad."

"Maybe not yet." Someone from Cabin Ten teased.

"Okay, we can tease Andi some more later." Lee said with a smile even as he ignored Andi's indignant "Hey!" and continued. "Break's over. Let's continue with the lesson."

"What lesson?"

"Jonah don't make me come up there!"

The boy just held up his hands in mock surrender and soon the lesson picked up again.

As it did so, Andi managed to improve enough to pull off an occasional whistling noise, though that wasn't what really caught the girl's attention.

Instead her focus was increasingly wrapped up in how Will, who had stuck close by to coach her along, was looking quite… handsome. She hadn't really noticed it before… but his shaggy blond hair, sky blue eyes and dimpled smile, all combined to make him look very good.

Heat crept up from her neck.

"Hey Will, is your hair getting more and more shaggy lately?" Andi said distractedly during the next break as she stared at his golden mane.

Andi cursed herself for pulling a Motor Mouth Jackson.

Will just blinked, looking very confused. "Err. It's the same as always?"

"Um, yes. Yes it is. Looks good." She gave him a thumbs up.

 _Oh gods. Shut up, shut up now!_

She ducked her head like a turtle, feeling so stupid and self-conscious at the moment.

There was some snickering from all round the amphitheater at Andi's display but they were shushed rather quickly by, surprisingly, those from Cabin Ten.

In fact, a good number of them were shooting her thumbs up.

Will blushed furiously at that, and Andi did too as she realized what the children of Aphrodite were implying.

 _They can't think that I like Will like that, can they?_ Andi thought before she froze as she put the pieces together. _Oh gods! Do I like Will like that?!_

"Okay everyone." Lee said with a grin. "As I said, we can tease Andi later. And now Will too."

"Get a fungal infection, Lee."

"Which you can heal!"

Will just gave his brother a frustrated look, one that promised some form of retribution.

The rest of the lesson passed way too slowly for Andi. Between the teasing looks everyone was shooting her and her own traitorous brain thinking embarrassing thoughts about Will the whole time, it was torture.

She was so distracted that the sounds from her harmonica sounded akin to a dying alley cat. Not that she noticed, not with Will right next to her. Sure he was loads better on his lyre than she was but he was super nice about it. Which didn't help at all.

 _I want to hide in a cloud._

* * *

It was August first, the day after the big birthday party that she and Percy had organized for Andi. It had been a great time, as expected of their circle of friends, and the birthday girl had enjoyed herself immensely. It was hard not to. Not when she was also showered with gifts. Mainly normal stuff, but also including a replica of the aviator jacket from Silena to replace the one Andi had lost in the Sea of Monsters.

Andi had teared up a little at that, not even minding as Silena teased her about needing to stockpile more of them with how quickly she seemed to be going through them.

Personally, Annabeth felt her gift was better than the jacket.

After all how could you compare an ancient book on magic with a simple piece of clothing bought from the camp store?

Andi just didn't have any taste.

Besides that, the party was a great success for the most part. The only sour point had been Thalia, who had been grumpy and standoffish the whole time. To the point that everyone, Andi and Annabeth included, were glad when she left early, complaining about it being a waste of her time.

Annabeth honestly wished she hadn't convinced her old friend to stay in the first place. She had hoped that the two daughters of Zeus would just get along, but any attempt Andi made to be friendly was just tossed to the side.

The grey eyed girl was drawn from her thoughts when she heard someone call out to her.

Turning to the direction of the voice, she saw Katie jogging up to her.

"Going where I'm going?" Katie said with a playful smile.

"You know I am, Katie." Annabeth rolled her eyes. "You were there when Andi invited me yesterday at the party."

"I guess we need a party pooper there." The daughter of Demeter stuck out her tongue.

Annabeth grumbled at that, she was _not_ a party pooper.

They arrived at Cabin One and Annabeth knocked on the large double doors. With a groan, one opened, Andi poking her head out, a forced smile on her face.

"Hey guys."

"You wanna go!?" Thalia's voice rang out from in the cabin, making Andi wince.

"Of course you want to fight when you don't get your way." Silena shouted back. "That's the only way you know how to get what you want, isn't it?"

"Oh boy." Annabeth said as she and Katie entered the cabin with a quick prayer to Zeus. Silena stood on one side, an uncharacteristic sneer on her face. While Thalia stood a few feet away from her, blue static jumping around her frame, a scowl marring hers.

"Do we even want to know?" Katie asked Andi in a low whisper.

"Thalia wants to watch the Tele." Andi replied in an equally quiet voice, sounding immensely conflicted. Hunter whined comfortingly as he rubbed himself against her side.

"What's the problem with that?" Katie asked with a confused frown.

"She wants to watch a rock concert. At max volume, for the atmosphere." Andi explained, rubbing her ears a little. "She said she'll be going at it all night. Says she wants to catch up on all the stuff from her old bands that she's missed." Andi said, gesturing to the pile of DVDs - the stuff that Thalia had wasted all the store credit she earned from camp events on - that littered the coffee table in front of the TV in the little sleeping area that Andi had arranged to have set up for Thalia.

It was a pretty nice set up and something that Annabeth knew Andi paid for with her own money. It had a decent bed, a chest of drawers, and a TV all squeezed into one of the many alcoves that Cabin One had. It wasn't very spacious though, and Andi had offered to let Thalia just share her magical wardrobe or for her to get her one of her own. But the older daughter of Zeus had furiously rejected what she called 'charity'.

 _She seemed pretty okay with all the other stuff though._

"You do realize this was all paid for with Andi's money, right?" Silena asked pointedly.

Thalia scoffed. "So? It's tradition for the Head Counselors of Cabin One to provide this isn't it? She probably just dragged it all out of some storage locker somewhere or used the Cabin's account to buy it."

Silena gave her a look that clearly said that Thalia was crazy.

Annabeth spared Andi a look. The younger daughter of Zeus was shuffling her feet uncomfortably.

 _Really, Andi? This is how you got her to accept all this stuff?_

"Even if that's the case." Katie cut in sounding skeptical, a dry look on her face. "It's time you let Andi have some peace and quiet to do what she wants." The daughter of Demeter gestured at the pile of discarded snack wrappers littered about Thalia's area. "It's obvious you've been at it for hours already."

"The cabin inspection is coming up too." Silena noted cheerfully. "I would hate to dock so many points because of the family slob."

"Well, sorry Miss Prim and Proper. Trying to catch up on _seven_ lost years takes time." Thalia retorted, her voice going up an octave in the process.

A whine from Andi's side drew the blonde's attention. Resting his head on his paws, Hunter growled at Thalia.

"By making a mess?" Katie asked condescendingly.

Thalia glared at Silena and Katie then even as the storm of static around her spiked, "Shut up! Do you even know what that's like? Losing years of your life like that, huh?"

"No," Silena admitted but sounding undaunted. "But it's no excuse for how you've been bullying Andi."

Katie nodded her agreement, even Hunter did. Annabeth barely managed to restrain herself from doing the same.

Thalia squared her shoulders, as if she was making a stand and looked around, spotting Annabeth. The look in her eye was clearly asking for support.

The daughter of Athena felt torn inside, but reluctantly shook her head. _Don't look at me, this is your mess._

For a brief moment, Thalia's shoulders sagged as if defeated. But she recovered quickly and straightening once again, she began to stalk off. "Whatever. You want me gone? Fine."

Andi flinched at this, moving as if to say something but stopping herself at the last minute.

Annabeth took note of that and couldn't help the anger that welled inside of her at her old friend. She understood that Thalia was having a rough time adjusting. They had spent a few hours just talking about it, but the others were frankly right. While Andi might have been pushy with Thalia about establishing a family relationship, that didn't justify the outright bullying of the small girl that Thalia was responding with. It just wasn't acceptable.

Andi wouldn't fight back and Thalia would just keep walking all over her.

 _It's time to talk to her about her behavior, I think._ Annabeth decided. _But not now._

Which was why she did nothing as Thalia slammed the Cabin's door behind her as she declared that she'd be out picking a fight with Ares cabin.

Hunter let out a triumphant bark, his tail wagging happily that Thalia was gone.

"So, with the family drama over, girl's' day anyone?" Silena asked, looking pleased with herself.

"That sounds great." Katie smiled.

Annabeth knelt down beside Hunter and rubbed the back of his ear.

"Where's Clarisse?" Silena asked looking around and not spotting the daughter of Ares. "Didn't I see you inviting her, Andi?"

"I don't think she's coming." Andi said with a frown, partly, Annabeth guessed, because of confusion over what she was talking about and partly because she was still feeling upset over the fight with Thalia. "When I invited her and told her about how I wanted to talk about Will, she said something about a talk with a shovel and just walked off." Andi knitted her brow. "Honestly didn't get it."

The daughter of Athena's lip twitched. "It just means Clarisse is a good friend of yours, Andi."

Who would have thought that the rough and tough Clarisse had gained a soft spot for Andi? The daughter of Zeus just formed the strangest of friendships at times.

Hunter let out a bark of agreement, making Annabeth look at him.

"Why's Hunter all cooped up in the cabin?" The daughter of wisdom asked as she recalled how she'd not seen the dog around camp much lately. "Shouldn't that house arrest he was given been lifted already?"

Andi walked over to them, patting Hunter's back.

"Mr. D ruled that Hunter could only come out when he's got a chaperone. And he could only come to lessons if permission is given beforehand. He said he liked it better this way." Andi pouted, Hunter whining forlornly. "Something about Hunter not being underfoot all the time like this."

Annabeth's heart went out for Hunter, he was a wonderful dog. But then again when had Mr. D not done something just to mess with a camper?

"That's totally unfair." Katie commented.

"Tell me about it, Hunter loved chasing the satyrs around. Mr. D even said it gave them good exercise!"

"And practice if they were chased by a real monster." Annabeth couldn't help but note.

"True." Silena agreed as she went up to guide Andi over to the wardrobe, and into her room. The others followed, and soon they were all sitting on the couch in front of her TV. "Besides Hunter's a great dog." Hunter barked happily at that, clearly pleased to be praised. "He even has good taste in his favorite daughter of Zeus."

Andi gave the girls an uneasy look. "Hey, was it okay to be all mean to Thalia like that?"

Both Silena and Katie looked stunned at her question.

Annabeth however understood why she had said that. Andi was hoping to build a true sisterly relationship with Thalia and was afraid that fighting with her would scuttle her chances of that. "Andi, Thalia was in the wrong here. She hasn't been treating you right and someone had to point that out to her. Okay?"

The petite girl offered an unsure nod in return.

"How about we just hang out, like we came here to do?" Annabeth suggested in an attempt to switch the subject.

She got a round of agreements.

"Hey, Andi." Katie called out uncertainly.

"Hm?"

"Thanks for inviting me." Katie sent a grateful smile the child of Zeus' way. She was gripping her jean shorts. "I was honestly a little surprised since we hadn't been...on great terms as of late." Katie gulped nervously for a moment, before continuing. "Because of Tantalus."

Andi hesitated for a moment, before waving the matter off.

"Don't worry about it. You were right." An upset look settled on Andi's face. "He was a total creep."

 _Poor Andi._ The child of Athena thought to herself even as she held back the sad expression she wanted to show. Andi was probably comparing Tantalus with Thalia and thinking about how her family always seemed to fail to meet her expectations.

Hunter's head nudged Andi's leg, looking up at her with sad dog eyes.

"So, let's get to the meat of the subject here." Silena cut in as sharp as a knife. She was smiling brightly at Andi. "Your feelings and a certain son of Apollo."

Andi's face turned pink, but said nothing as she just rubbed Hunter's head.

"You said you wanted to talk about them? Does it have something to do with the juicy news I heard about your music lesson~"

"Nothing was 'juicy'. I just sounded terrible, and acted like a right twit." Andi replied as she bent down to give Hunter a belly rub and hide her reddening face in the process.

"Well, it's my diagnosis-"

"Really?" Katie asked with a dry look.

"It works perfectly here." Silena objected.

Andi just looked thoughtful.

"So," Annabeth cut in before the banter could drag out even as she smiled in amusement at her friends' antics. "Andi, what did you feel exactly?"

"I dunno, I just suddenly looked at him and realized he's handsome, has nice hair, and all that. I knew that before of course, but this time it was different. I got all fluttery inside too."

"And by nice hair you mean it was shaggy." Silena teased.

"I know, it was dumb!" Andi cried out, her palms meeting her face.

"And cute." Silena points out. "Guys like some quirkiness. Just look at Annabeth."

"How am I quirky?!" Annabeth said, looking indignant.

"You go into rambles about things ranging from ceiling tiles to arch designs. You're quirky, accept this truth."

Katie nodded along to Silena's assessment. Even Andi seemed to agree though she was more cautious about it.

"Well, we're not here to talk about _me_." Annabeth stressed, feeling flustered. "We're here for Andi."

"For now." Silena said with a Cheshire smile that promised a long and painful -In her opinion- talk about her lovelife.

Annabeth was already dreading it.

"Back to you, Andi. What do you think it means?"

"Err… That I might like him? I mean, _like_ like him?" The daughter of Zeus said rather uncertainly, playing with the hem of her t-shirt as she did.

Hunter gave off a clearly unhappy growl at all this talk about Andi's lovelife. But Silena just nudged him with her foot.

"Shush."

In the same motion, Silena gave Andi a round of applause, while the other girls shot her encouraging smiles. "Accepting it is the first step to love."

"Lo-Love?" Andi sputtered.

"Silena." Annabeth warned.

"Puppy love?" Silena adjusted. "Hey, I don't tell you how to craft a strategy or build a house. Leave this to someone related to love."

Hunter covered his ears with his paws, not happy to hear about his mistress' love life. Annabeth however found his actions adorable.

"Still you might be going too fast for Andi, Silena." Katie pointed out.

"Fine." Silena said with a pout at the look of shock still on Andi's face.

"Maybe you can stick to just giving Andi some advice instead?" Katie offered.

"Fine, yes." Silena nodded and offered the little girl a confident smile. "Andi, sweetie, all you need to do is let this take its natural course."

The child of Zeus moistened her lips.

"That's all?"

"Yup." Silena winked. "If this is meant to be then it is meant to be. Or if mom wants it to happen."

"Thanks Silena." Andi said looking visibly nervous. Annabeth could commiserate, the reminder that the capricious Aphrodite was in charge of their love lives made all of them nervous. For a second, she thought of Percy...and how she wanted to kis-no, um, punch him...stupid Seaweed Brain.

"So you good, Andi?" Katie said clearly just as uncomfortable with the topic.

"Err… I think so."

"Good. Then let's talk about something else."

Hunter barked his agreement, much to the girls' amusement.

The girls looked at each other a bit as they tried to think about something else to talk about. Something less emotionally charged.

Finally, when it was clear that no one had a suggestion, Silena reached over into a bag that she'd presumably left on Andi's couch before Annabeth and Katie had arrived.

"How about we watch a movie instead?" The daughter of Aphrodite held up a DVD labeled: The Notebook.

"Seriously?" Katie asked her.

"Shush, Katie. Let me do things."

The daughter of Demeter just sighed. The other two demigoddesses shrugged in response, clearly thinking this was as good an idea as any.

The rest of the night passed quickly as the girls enjoyed their movie with popcorn and a tub of neapolitan ice cream.

* * *

The Pegasi were flying, the harpies were screeching, swords clanged together, and fart jokes were made. Seriously, there was this Hermes kid who made one during combat class earlier. Andi thought it was okay, but the older campers disagreed and all gave him the stink eye until the poor guy clammed up. And sadly as usual, Thalia was being cold towards Andi, though the witch was sure that she'll come around soon.

Basically, it was just an average day at Camp Half-Blood.

The peace was unexpectedly broken however when a horde of monsters - three dozen of them, at least - suddenly burst out of the southern woods. They looked like women but with flaming hair, white skin, red eyes, fangs, and one prosthetic bronze leg and one donkey leg.

"Empousai!" One of the campers who spotted them first shouted as they rushed past the Archery Range and the Combat Arena on a path towards the Strawberry Fields.

Unfortunately for the Empousai they were running right through a pincer of armed to the teeth demigods.

"Heroes!" Chiron's voice rang out, his call rallying the campers to action. "Archers, take aim. Fire!"

At his command, the various campers who had previously been having an archery lesson with him obeyed. There had been some confusion among the campers - Not that Andi would blame them, it was pretty weird to have monsters just show up from nowhere - but they quickly recovered and followed their orders.

Andi had been there for her usual double lesson in Archery, and had rained down a cluster of her wind arrows, sinking into heads and chests, grazing others. She had launched a few air bombs too, but the monsters were sprinting so fast that they didn't do much damage. Only managing to cause as much damage as her wind arrows did.

Campers in leather cuirass armed with swords and spears poured out of the arena, Percy at the front of the wave as he lopped off an Empousai's head. Clarisse was surprisingly not in the thick of it. Instead, she was running across the path over to the Archery Range at the head of a trio of campers loaded down with weapons to arm the various campers there watching the lesson and who were unarmed.

The campers tried to block the monster's path, but at least half of them suddenly went rigid, as if they were paralyzed by the monster's horrible appearance.

"They're empousai!" Chiron shouted over the chaos. "Don't look at them too closely or you'll be paralyzed."

His warning helped, and the campers were a lot more careful as they engaged the monsters but that caution lowered their effectiveness which meant they they failed to prevent the attackers from making it to the Strawberry Fields. There they began setting the crop - the Camp's source of funds- on fire.

That pissed Andi off. She had worked hard helping the twins out in the fields!

The unparalyzed campers pursued the monsters into the fields and this time, the monsters stood their ground. Though not before conjuring a thick bank of fog around the whole area.

"That's the Mist!" Andi called out, as she tried to pierce through the large bank of Mist.

"Be wary of illusions." Chiron warned even as he let fly with another arrow at the monsters, the other archers - Andi included - following suit.

Their aim was thrown off by the Mist and the other campers closing in, making things too messy to risk another volley. So they switched to targets of opportunity instead, shooting at any sign of the enemy they could make out.

Andi made one such shot when a massive snake head lifted itself above the Mist looking ready to strike at something that she could not see - probably some hapless demigod. Her wind bomb arrow blew the transformed monster's -What else could it be?- head off, reducing it to gold dust.

A few other giant snakes had peeked their heads out of the Mist by that point, but at the sight of their compatriot being destroyed, they quickly ducked their heads back under the obscuring Mist. Their shapes were hard to make out, but that didn't save them from the more eagle eyed archers like Andi and Lee Fletcher who managed to score a number of shots. The shots hit the monsters through the eyes or other vulnerable parts of the bodies of the odd monster or in Andi's case blew whole parts of their body apart.

The Mist was thick and obscuring, but Andi could still, if barely, make out the forms of the campers. Some of them fighting, but others were acting strange.

 _They look like they're off their rocker or something._ Andi thought to herself, before she realized what was going on. _Oh bloody-! They must be caught in some illusion due to all that Mist._

Andi made it a point to pepper the area around the frozen campers with arrows, hopefully that would keep the monsters that had trapped them away long enough for them to shake the illusion off. Once, Andi even heard a sharp monstrous cry of pain that told her that she'd scored a kill while doing so.

With all the campers working together, the battle was over quickly. It lasted only five, maybe ten minutes. With the last empousai being dealt with just as the first campers from the Cabins arrived to help.

 _That was easy, not that there was any doubt about the outcome._ Andi mused happily. _What were these wankers thinking? Attacking Camp when they were so badly outnumbered and outgunned?_

With the downing of the last empousai, the bank of Mist began to clear and Andi took a quick check to see how the campers had fared. As far as she could tell, there were a handful of people with pretty nasty wounds from what looked like bite marks but overall no one looked seriously hurt.

Seeing that the battle had ended, the campers let out whoops and cheers, many looking pleased with their kill counts and bragging all around.

A "chee choo" sound caught Andi's attention and her eyes shot towards a box like object in the middle of the blazing strawberry fields that was in the middle of unfurling or transforming into something else.

 _Did the empousai drop that?_ Andi pondered even as she leveled her bow at the thing, just in case it was some nasty parting surprise left behind by the monsters.

With a "choo choo chuh" sound, the thing completed its transformation.

It looked like something that came from the Battle-Cano. It was a humanoid figure that was nearly as tall as Chiron with a head that was shaped like a distorted skull and was punctuated by beady glowing red eyes. It stood on a pair of clawed legs that looked vaguely like those of a bird, which had a whole host of visible pistons and what not installed onto it that clearly implied its great potential for speed. Chrome and gunmetal grey colored its thin body as well as its four arms, each armed with some crazy looking weapons.

The two upper arms gripped a pair of celestial bronze tubes, that reminded Andi slightly of the Master Bolt.

The weapons in the lower arms were what truly grabbed her attention though, they were two of the most exotic looking guns that Andi had ever seen. The right one looked like some kinda alien squid in black, was glowing red and had crimson energy that arcing between the squid arm like prongs of the claw that made up the gun's muzzle. The left was a weapon in gunmetal grey casing built around what looked like some kinda large coil of copper wire with a mechanical claw attached to its front.

"Shit! Is that General Grievous?" Andi heard one of the campers near it whisper in awe.

"Wait, cartoon Grievous, or movie Grievous?" Another camper, clearly a friend of the first, whispered back.

Andi didn't really know what they were talking about, but she did note that whoever built those guns really liked to include claw-like things on the front of their stuff.

"Chiron?" Lee prompted the centaur.

"Hold." Chiron's voice rang out, as if he was knocked out of some kind of daze. "We don't know if it's hostile." Then in a whisper that Andi barely caught, he added. "I hope not."

"Idiots, its a droid, so it's the N-K Necrosis." Someone corrected the two campers that had been arguing earlier, as they formed up into a loose circle around the automaton.

"Dude, whatever. Same-" The guy who had first identified the automaton spoke up, but he never finished his sentence as the automaton raised its guns and fired. The blast from the gun in its left hand punting him into the friend he'd first been bantering with, sending them both to the ground. The poor guy had been impaled through the heart by his mate's sword.

As horrifying as that was, the bark of the squid gun that followed seconds afterwards was worse. It was aimed towards the combat arena and the crimson orb of energy it fired landed in the middle of the structure. A second later, a good chunk of the building was vaporized in a mushroom cloud of red energy as the rest just collapsed.

"Okay, all in favor of avoiding _that_?" A panicked camper shouted even as she ran away from the mechanical monster.

"Aye!" A number of campers muttered in agreement as many started to flee from their new enemy.

"Scatter!" Chiron ordered rather unnecessarily to the various campers in the fields.

Neither Chiron's orders nor the camper's own initiative helped them escape though. The automaton didn't let them. The archers unleashed a rain of arrows to slow it down, but their assault was stopped dead in its track. The automation simply activated the twin tubes of celestial bronze that it wielded in it's upper arms, causing each of them to emit twin blades of red energy, which it proceeded to use to lazily defend itself. Any arrows that might have harmed it were cut down while less dangerous shots it allowed to get deflected entirely by its armor or failing that just get stuck in it. Even Andi's wind arrows were being taken out as the droid disrupted the constructs with its energy weapons.

"Lightsabers!" Lee gasped. "Fucking dual-bladed _red_ lightsabers? Sith! Sith!"

Andi wasn't entirely sure what those were, except being something from the Star Wars movies she'd heard about, but judging from everyone's reactions they were bad news.

Weathering the barrage from the archers and freaking everyone out as it did so, it closed the distance with the nearest campers with frightening speed.

Two brave souls raised their weapons to block the glowing swords, but one was sent flying thanks to the grey gun, landing in a painful thud. He got off lucky.

The other camper was sliced to bits in a matter of seconds by the whirling blades of the lightsabers, his celestial bronze sword unable to stand up against the power of the exotic weapon and ending up in the same condition as its wielder.

Andi and her fellow archers could do no more than pepper it with their arsenal, desperately praying to the Twin Archers to hit something vital. But clearly this was a top tier automaton, because between its armor and the deadly dance that it moved its swords in, it easily dealt with anything that was fired its way.

Andi bit her lip in frustration as she was about to let another arrow rip, they weren't accomplishing anything. Their arrows weren't even distracting the thing as it ran towards another camper.

Just then, Andi saw something that made her stomach drop. Thalia had arrived and was making a mad dash straight towards the automaton.

"I've got this"! The elder daughter of Zeus declared as she shouted, "Aegis!" Her bronze shield, stamped with the horrific face of Medusa, quickly transformed from its disguised form and was leveled at the machine. The sight sent all the nearby campers around Thalia running in a panic.

It however had no effect at all on the automaton which ignored it -and Thalia- entirely as it closed on a camper.

"Nice job." Percy said snidely to her as he lashed out a hand towards the cooler by the Archery Range. There wasn't much water left in it, but the son of Poseidon shaped what was left into a whip and cracked it at the automaton.

The droid just countered in a fluid motion, brandishing its grey gun which barked with a long bang and hit the water with some kind of blast that both dispersed Percy's construct and sent the water that had made it up flying in the opposite direction.

"It just _had_ to be a flipping gravity gun. That's so not fair." A daughter of Apollo hissed near Andi, even as she drew another arrow from her near empty quiver.

A member of Cabin Six ran up behind them, his arms holding a bundle of quivers. Panting, he said. "Here guys, grabbed as many as I could."

He got a short round of thanks as all the archers snagged their new quivers, filled to the brim with fresh arrows.

"Where's Annabeth?" Chiron asked the son of Athena. "We could use her strategic skill."

The blond pointed over towards where Clarisse and Annabeth were trying to organize the still panicking campers. Apparently Thalia was _still_ trying to use Aegis on the automaton, both of them were shouting at the elder daughter of Zeus to stow away her shield but she seemed to be ignoring them. Though now that Andi was looking more carefully, Thalia actually looked like she was using the shield's power to keep campers away from the droid. The machine noticed Clarisse and Annabeth though and raised the gravity gun in their direction, firing a shot that sent both girls flying.

Clarisse managed to get her bearings enough mid-flight to roll as she landed to bleed off the momentum and was back on her feet pretty quickly. Annabeth however landed badly, hitting her head hard against a piece of masonry from the wrecked Arena.

"Well, she's out like a light." The son of Athena grimaced at the sight.

Andi just saw red, wanting to hit the automaton with an entire volley of wind bombs that could level a hill, but stilled her need for wanton destruction.

"Damn it, if only the thing wasn't so fast or so close to the other campers." Andi cursed, her grip on Skyline turning her knuckles white. "I'd blow it up with a wind bomb if it wasn't."

"Patience, Andi," Chiron said in a cold, furious voice. "You might yet have a chance."

The youngest child of Zeus nodded, eagerly waiting for said chance.

Apparently satisfied that it had dealt with the threat of its opposition organising itself, the machine returned its attention to hunting down the fleeing campers around it. Much to the horror of Andi and the other archers, an easy target quickly presented himself. A demigod caught in the throes of Aegis' magically induced panic was running right towards it.

However, the boy got off by the skin of his teeth as Thalia let out a yell, firing a static bolt right at the machine.

It staggered back from the elemental attack and that saved the camper's life. He didn't get off scot free though as he was caught up in the blast too. Which sent him flopping to the ground with terrible electric burns, and very clearly unconscious.

With the boy no longer a threat, the automaton switched targets and turned to sprint towards Thalia.

For a moment, Thalia froze. Her eyes locked on the badly burned boy.

"Thalia!" Andi shouted, enhancing her voice with her powers.

That snapped the elder daughter of Zeus back to reality and her frame crackled with electric power as she fired another bolt from her spear. The machine however jinxed away from Thalia's clearly telegraphed attack at the last minute, not once breaking stride as it closed in on her like a cheetah.

Eyes wide, the spiky haired girl aimed her spear for another blast, but it was too late. The automaton was already on her like a hungry lion and with a last leap closed the distance. It immediately lashed out with one of it's lightsabers for a stab through her chest. The child of Zeus desperately raised Aegis, and it saved her life.

The glowing blade was blocked, making the machine tilt its head. If it was possible, Andi would have thought it was stunned that its blade did nothing.

Whatever it was, Thalia took advantage of it. With a mighty war cry, she counterattacked with her spear, sending the glistening spearhead right through one of the elbows of its blade arms, cutting it clean off.

She looked ready for a follow up, as she pulled her spear back for another jab. Unfortunately, her successful attack had got the machine's attention and it quickly responded by firing the gravity gun point-blank at her.

"Fuck." Thalia said and let out a cry as she was sent airborne, landing in a thud on her back, Aegis rolling away from her.

Fear for Thalia gripped Andi's heart at the sight but she held it in. Now wasn't the time, not when getting Thalia off the field had finally lifted the panic that had overwhelmed the campers and had previously negated any attempts to organise them to fight the monster.

A monster that was currently distracted as it tilted its head to examine first the smoking and melting remains of its severed arm and the damaged stump that remained attached to its body.

Percy, the brilliant bloke he was, rushed in to take advantage of this lack of focus. Before the automation knew it, the son of Poseidon was right inside its guard and had swung Riptide with perfect precision. In a single perfect stoke, he amputated the other lightsaber arm.

"Dude, stay in your terrible mo-" Percy never got to finish whatever quip he was making though, as the droid responded quickly and gun whipped him in the side, sending him reeling back.

In the same motion, the monstrous machine leveled its squid gun at the cluster of archers while the other was aimed upwards.

The same archers who had capitalized on the droid having lost its lightsabers and had just finished unleashing a volley on the now vulnerable droid. Seeing the the droid's deadliest weapon pointed at them, they panicked.

Andi acted on sheer instinct. Calling on her aerokinesis, she immediately detonated a wind bomb in the middle of the crowd of archers, sending everyone, even Chiron, flying. They might have gotten hurt from the blast or the fall, but that was better than being vaporized.

Meanwhile, the archers' last volley was mostly sent flying in the other direction as the automaton fired its gravity gun at the mass of arrows. Only a handful remained on target after that, and they just peppered it uselessly even as it's much more powerful gun fired.

This proved to be its last hurrah however, as its focus on letting the last shot off left it open. Something that Thalia and Percy, recovered from their earlier blows, used to rush in to stab it from both sides, skewering it right through the chest.

Not that this helped the archers much, as a mushroom cloud of red energy burst into being in the middle of their ranks, thankfully thinned due to Andi's quick action. Despite that, there were still quite a few people caught up in the explosion. The campers -or parts of them- were sent flying.

"Olympus will fall!" The droid screamed in a sharp metallic voice as it finally shorted out and began melting into slag. Percy and Thalia backing away quickly as their opponent turned into a pool of molten junk.

* * *

After the entire battle, all the head counselors gathered around the Ping-Pong table in the Big House. Chiron sat at the head of the table, while Mr. D loafed off in the corner on his napping couch.

Most everyone was covered in bandages. Even Chiron was injured - he had a twisted fetlock - and was recovering in his magical wheelchair. They had ran short of nectar and ambrosia and Apollo Cabin had been forced to resort to rationing it so as to make sure only those most seriously injured had enough.

All was quiet as the last of the counselors, Lee from Apollo arrived.

"The final count is eight dead and thirty seven wounded." Lee informed Camp's leaders grimly, without prompting as he entered the room.

Everyone, even Mr. D, looked pained to hear the news. That meant that practically every camper had at least been hurt.

Giving Mr. D the stink eye, Percy turned to the god.

"Where were you?" He demanded, his voice raised. "Eight are dead, and dozens are wounded. Why didn't our resident god made a _godly_ appearance!?"

Mr. D paused in his turning of the page of the magazine he has been reading. Putting the magazine aside, the god returned the son of Poseidon's accusatory eyes with a surprisingly serious look of his own.

"Percy." Andi said in a low whisper to her cousin, tugging on his sleeve to remind him that it was a good idea to not antagonize their resident god.

Her twit of cousin ignored her.

"While you played with the wind-up toy, I was busy making sure nothing _else_ spewed out of the summoning circle in the forest." The god raised a brow. "Or did you want any more little nasty surprises, Peter?"

The daughter of Zeus felt that Mr. D wasn't being completely honest. Nor was he lying outright.

Though, to be fair, she couldn't really complain about him even if he was lying through his teeth. Hunter could have been a great help in the fight, but in the heat of the moment, she had completely forgotten about her faithful dog.

Percy fumed at the god's reply, his whole demeanor putting out a dark aura. Most of the other counselors weren't happy with the explanation either but nobody tried to refute it or press Mr. D for more.

"Let's focus on the matter at hand." Annabeth said, who was holding an ice pack to the back of her head. "Who or what sent that automaton and why."

"I have my suspicions." Chiron said with a tired frown on his face.

A scoff from Mr. D said that he had an idea as well.

"It was _her_."

"We have no concrete proof." Chiron shot back with an almost hopeful tone in his voice.

"You're being too soft, Chiron." Mr. D chided with a wag of his finger. "Hephaestus always did produce the crazy ones. And here I thought I was the mad one."

The Head Counselor of Hephaestus' Cabin, Beckendorf, did not look pleased by the comment at all. He was this huge African American bloke with a permanent scowl on his face, a ton of muscles and huge hands that reminded her of Hagrid, which were calloused from working in the armory all day.

"Oh, save your petty anger." Mr. D said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "We both know your sister did this. After all, her mother is missing from the attic."

"Mother? Attic?" Silena said voicing the confusion of the majority of the counselors.

The puzzle pieces started to fall into place and Andi stated her conclusion.

"You mean GLaDOS?"

"The annoying thing, yes." Mr. D nodded.

"Mr. D!" Chiron cut in, sounding annoyed. "As I said, we have no proof Chell did this. She wouldn't hurt her fellow half-bloods like this."

"Please, for their little mortal parents?" Mr. D pointed to the demigods accusingly. "Some of them would do just about anything."

Chiron looked ready to continue to protest, but Beckendorf cut him off.

"No Chiron, Mr. D is right. It makes sense." The son of Hephaestus sadly nodded. "Those guns, the lightsabers, even the strange automaton design. It's her usual MO."

"But what about the empousai?" Katie asked with concern.

"Summoned." Travis Stoll said, playing with a key lock.

"By Lucas Gascone we think." Connor added as he took the lock from his brother.

"Who?" Andi asked with a knitted brow, the name not ringing any bells.

"The new Hecate kid." Travis explained.

Connor picked up from there.

"He's disappeared. Must have been a plant."

"Great, another spy?" Percy frowned.

That made the room fall quiet, they had no idea who Luke's spy was and now they were faced with another one.

"Could Lucas-"

"No way, Katie," Connor said with a shake of his head. "He only showed up a couple weeks ago."

"Let's not waste time on speculation. We need to focus on what we need to do. The wounded need attention, the dead need a pyre, and we need to build a new arena." Chiron listed off, trying to change subjects.

"Yes, plenty of work." Mr. D commented disinterestedly as he stood. "Work that I'll leave to you miscreants. I've got the strawberry fields to tend to."

With that the god walked out, leaving Andi and the others to handle everything else.

* * *

It took hours to work out the details for everything. By the time they were done, Andi was dead tired, both emotionally and physically. She stumbled back to her cabin, something she only managed thanks to Percy's help. Though considering how tired he looked, the assistance went both ways.

Hoping for some sense of peace today, Andi pushed the door of her cabin open and shuffled in. Sadly, the moment she set foot inside, Thalia was right there with crossed arms and a scowl.

"What happened during the meeting?" She demanded, not even bothering with a 'How are you feeling?' or even a 'Hello'.

Andi wouldn't lie, a sense of resentment filled her at that moment.

"Well, _Head Counselor_?" Thalia said with a sneer, clearly not caring about how Andi felt. "Aren't you going to tell me?"

Hunter padded forward, trying to squeeze between the two daughters of Zeus. But Thalia just kept nudging him to the side.

Frankly, feeling dead tired, Andi just walked past Thalia without so much as a word, going right to her wardrobe.

"Oh so you're just going to ignore me? Some counselor you are." Thalia said with a scoff. "I bet I could do loads better."

Andi's hand gripped the wardrobe's doorknob in a white knuckled grip, she ground her teeth at Thalia's attitude. Looking over her shoulder, she gave Thalia a withering glare.

"We've got eight dead, over thirty wounded, and you know the only thing that I'm hearing from you? Me me me. Give it a rest for once, Thalia."

Without even bothering to listen to Thalia's heated retort, Andi closed the door on her sister and drifted to her bed. Falling face first onto her mattress, her blue eyes fluttered closed.

The head counselor of Cabin One was too tired to deal with Thalia. There had been too much to deal with today already, she couldn't take her sister's crap too. Not today.

* * *

 **Hey hey hey~! Guess who's back with a super long treat for you guys! *Thumbs to himself* This guy! Oh, and the other guys too.**

 **Thalia's back, back again, from the tree, to live again! And judging from the title, you guys could hopefully figure out that not all the things here today was sunshine and rainbows. The kiddies of Zeus do not get along, at all. It was bound to happen honestly, they just don't meld together well. Andi is too clingy, Thalia is too gruff and not willing to reach out to make a family bond after her brother, mom, and Luke.**

 **Nameless: So as some of you might have noticed, we've gone with a rather unorthodox interpretation of Thalia's character. Now before I dissect our reasons, let me remind you that we're going with plausible interpretations not exact ones. In canon, we don't get much depth into Thalia's characterization so this an extrapolation of that with the changed circumstances represented by Andi. Ok, here goes.**

 **Our first reason for making Thalia a bitch to Andi is one of pride. Thalia is driven by a desire for power, it's her fatal flaw. So seeing Andi being more powerful than her (more experienced at camp, has friends there, is Head Counselor) is going to piss her off. Especially because she comes across as the spare in the dynamics of the Big Three kids at Camp so far. She wants to be the star, but clearly isn't. This causes her to lash out, not only at Andi but at Camp in general, especially when reminded of her 'junior status'.**

 **Second, Thalia doesn't want a new family. In fact, she's actively afraid of it after what happened to her 'conventional' families in the past. (Luke betrayed her, her mum was a helpless drunk, Jason disappeared, etc.) We see this from her quite cool, considering their circumstances, reaction to Jason in canon and her complete embracing of the Hunters (a group who have no family but each other which is unconventional enough that it seems to be ok for her). With Andi desperately trying to push a family relationship between them, which she doesn't want, of course she'll be pissed beyond belief.**

 **So yeah, any attempt for Andi and Thalia to be genuine sisters was doomed from the get go. We just decided to play this out in the extreme for the drama. Well, that and to buck the fanon trend of Thalia just being OOC and readily accepting to any and all new siblings.**

 **E4E: But we've still got Jason guys! XD Fingers crossed.**

 **Though my readers, fear not! For not all is rain and thunderstorms! For we have ships, ships for days! Andi's music lesson being a big example of it. Now, Andi's knowledge of love could fill a thimble. Silena is her love guru. So, she has no idea why she's getting all fluttery over bishie Will (He's Apollo's, he's a bishie, deal with it). The girl talk helped steer the ship out of port and brace her for the dangerous seas and against such fleets as Solangelo (which ppl please don't bother me over. I had this pairing way before that was even canon!) and such.**

 **Nameless: Also for our more logical readers, you'll realize that with a MC close to Silena, her story will change. How? Well, keep reading to find out.**

 **Dude, shh. Don't point it out! We'll have to deal with the theorists!**

 **Anyways! We had some Star Wars going on. Oh! And, one of the guns was the Blackstar Reaper from Mass Effect 3, while the other was a Valve classic from our all time fav Half-Life (HL3 confirmed) the Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator! We had a fun lil debate between the demigods as they tried to identify all our references...until it thinned the herd at camp. Yesh, man, talk about harsh banter killing.**

 **Well, not much else to say except to smash that review button with your thoughts and feels, no flames, and to peace off until next time! Laters!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.**

 **The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans**

 **Chapter Seven: Cup of Champions**

 **Beta: ShadowofAxios**

* * *

It was the day after the disastrous attack on Camp and the Campers were all solemnly gathered around the central hearth to offer their condolences to their departed comrades.

Around the campfire were eight pyres, one for each of the dead Campers. The bodies were all covered in elaborately decorated burial shrouds, each individualized to represent both their godly parents and themselves. Each having been painstakingly hand-stitched overnight by the dead's Cabin mates.

All the campers wore black tee-shirts for the occasion, those closest to the departed, gave short speeches to praise the fallen. All throughout sobs could be heard, even as memorable stories were shared with all.

It was Andi's first time at a funeral. It somewhat reminded her of the Underworld, all gloom and doom. The campfire was a dark purple color, matching the mood of the campers as they mourned. A part of her wanted to do something, maybe try to raise the camp's spirits. Sadly, nothing really came to mind. She was far too tired and a touch depressed about how this whole thing ended to think of anything.

When the last of the speeches were finished, the pyres were lit all at once by the Campers that had given the funerary speeches. The pyres were doused in Greek Fire and so burned up quickly, the magical bright green flames rapidly consuming the wood and the bodies.

The Campers stood and watched in a respectful silence as the last mortal remains of their comrades passed into oblivion.

As the pyres finished burning away, an unusually solemn Mr. D snapped his fingers, smothering the Greek Fire and teleporting away in a single move. At this clear dismissal, the youngest child of Zeus followed the other Campers as they began to file out of the Amphitheater. All she wanted to do right now was to head back to her cabin to mope and dwell on things such as mortality. Maybe some rom-coms, and ice cream would lift her spirits.

And just as the thoughts of some Mega Strawberry came to mind, Andi's pursuit of sugar was halted by a number of campers walking up to her and crowding around her.

"Hey, nice save back there Potter." A guy from Cabin Five said, giving her a solid punch with his good arm. His other was still in a sling, recovering the old fashioned way due to Camp's depleted stock of Ambrosia and Nectar.

The diminutive demigoddess nearly fell down from the unexpected blow, and shot the guy an annoyed look. Only to receive an apologetic one in reply. "Sorry about that. Just wanted to say hello."

"Nice Mitch, send her flying next time." One of the friends that had accompanied the guy who had punched her, Mitch apparently, chided him.

"It's ok." Andi said quickly as Mitch blushed and sputtered as he tried to defend himself.

"Thanks Andi," Mitch said sincerely.

"No problem." Andi waved away dismissively. "So you wanted to tell me something?"

"Yeah." Mitch said as he nodded seriously, he looked ready to add something on but was preempted by a girl from Cabin Six, her blonde hair sticking out of the gauze around her eye and head.

"We just wanted to thank you for saving all of us archers yesterday."

Mitch turned to glare at the girl. "Erika!"

"Hey, you were taking too long." The girl, Erika, shot back.

Rubbing her arm, Andi ignored the byplay. She was too surprised by the fact that they were thanking her. "I, I didn't really do all that much."

That was how she honestly felt on the matter. Sure she had saved some people, she could acknowledge that much, but she could also see that she hadn't done anywhere near enough. Eight dead campers were proof of that.

"You're kidding, right?" A guy from Cabin Ten said while holding himself up with a pair of crutches, one of his legs broken pretty badly. "You whipped up that crazy wind blast and sent them all flying out of danger before that crazy automation could blow them to smithereens. That's something."

"I could've saved more." Andi said sadly as she lowered her head. She hadn't seen those campers get hit, but she had definitely heard them. It was kinda haunting to say the least.

"Hey come on, chin up." A guy from Cabin Four said. "You saved plenty of people. That has to count for something. We can't always save everyone."

"Exactly!" One of Will's sisters said, as she flashed Andi a perfectly white smile. "You saved my life, I can't thank you enough for that, Andi."

Andi just looked at them all and after a moment, nodded in gratitude.

 _You know, maybe...maybe things are turning around here._ Andi thought with a tiny smile. Pleased that at least a few people were now willing to forgive her for mucking up earlier in the summer.

Mitch and the others all seemed to smile at the fact that they had managed to make Andi smile. When suddenly, Mitch's eyes suddenly widened as if he had just realized something

"Hey, was it was okay for you to fight those empousai?" Mitch asked with a frown. "I mean, they are children of Hecate and she's your patron or something now, right?"

The British girl shrugged. "Haven't heard anything from her about this, so she probably doesn't care."

She heard a scoff and looked to see Thalia, who had been listening in - And Chiron says _she_ has a problem with eavesdropping - and was scowling at her.

Annoyance flashed through her, but she tried not to get riled up at Thalia's actions. It made her life a whole lot easier if she just ignored her sister's attitude.

The people surrounding her though, held no such reservations, and gave her a few good looks back.

But for every up, there was a down.

"Hey that's right!" A camper said, glaring at Andi and her group of supporters. "She works for Hecate now."

"You think she went easy on those monsters?"

"Dude, she blew one up! How's that going easy?"

"She could have blown up more than one! Remember Mt. Zeusette?" A furious looking guy from Cabin Eleven said as he took an aggressive step towards Andi. "If she went all out she could have taken them all out in one go! She didn't! She was obviously holding back!"

"And hit us too? Great idea, genius." Erika shot back, rolling her one good eye.

Soon both sides were arguing back and forth, and the tension was such that it looked like a fight would enuse any second. Insults were hurled from one camper to the next.

Andi shot Thalia a angry glare, blaming her for starting this. Her sister wasn't having any of it though, instead shooting back an accusation of her own.

"Could you get any more stupid? Selling out to a goddess like that? I bet you did it for cheap."

Andi flinched. She hadn't! She screwed over two people she cared about all because the goddess caught her completely off-guard and when she was still recovering from a fight!

The shorter girl scrambled for a comeback, she wasn't going to take that lying down.

"Says the former pine tree." Percy said as he strolled up to the group, causing Thalia to turn to him so she could scowl in his direction.

"What was that?"

"Hm?" Percy cocked his head to the side. "Oh, nothing. Just well, it's kind of annoying to watch everyone start playing the blame game when we just got through burning our _dead_. So how about some tact? Or do you fail hard at that too, Thalia?"

Thalia stepped up to the son of Poseidon, her hand balled into a fist. She looked just about ready to hit him when Chiron galloped towards the crowd.

"Enough!" He shouted, stomping his hooves on the ground as emphasis, a frown marring his face as he shot a sharp look at each and every camper in turn. None of them could meet their gaze. "Children, now is not the time for this ridiculous behavior. Save it for another day...not now. Return to your cabins, all of you."

Andi did as she was told and headed off to Cabin One, giving Thalia a wide berth as she did so.

* * *

A couple tense days later, Andi had just finished getting ready for the day and was about to head out to breakfast when a hoot from Hedwig caught her attention.

"Hedwig, you're back?" Andi said as she walked over to her avian friend's perch. "You got letters for me?"

The snowy owl nodded even as she shot the girl a reproachful look.

"I know. I know." Andi said sadly as she fished out an owl treat from a conveniently placed pouch hanging from the perch and offering it to her owl. "I'm sorry that I've got nothing much for you to do nowadays."

Hedwig hooted understandingly, but didn't let up on her glare, even as she obligingly ate her treat.

"Well, I don't exactly have many friends left in the Wizarding World left, do I!?"

It was yet another depressing thing in Andi's life. Sure, she and Ron mailed each other regularly, and she even corresponded with Ginny and Luna once in awhile too. Then there was the sporadic exchanges from Sirius and Lupin as they tried to connect with her. But that's about it. She hadn't even received a single letter from Hermione at all this summer. She had tried to send a few letters, but she never got a reply back. By Olympus, she had even had a few of them returned to her unopened!

Andi was just letting her mood overtake her when Hedwig hit her lightly in the head with an outstretched wing while hooting at her sternly.

"Right, no getting sad over it." Andi nodded. "Let's just see what the letters say this time, okay?"

The owl nodded approvingly.

Reading the letters quickly, Andi groaned. "Darn! I totally forgot about the Quidditch World Cup. I bet it's too late to get tickets now."

Hedwig who had been reading the letters over her mistress' shoulder - how an owl learned how to read, Andi didn't know, but she was absolutely certain that Hedwig could - hooted to grab Andi's attention and gestured at the letter from Sirius with one of her talons.

"Oh thank Hecate!" Andi said with a relieved sigh. "Sirius got a box and says I can invite some friends. Hmm… I wonder who I can invite…"

Her mood greatly buoyed by the prospect of attending the Quidditch World Cup and more importantly getting the chance to show it, the greatest thing in the Wizarding World she could think of, to her fellow Campers. Maybe if they saw the Wizards at their greatest, they would stop encouraging her to leave the Wizarding World, and more importantly she wouldn't be tempted to do so.

That and the idea of showing her friends this major sporting event in itself had her positively bouncing with excitement.

With this idea in mind, Andi bolted out her cabin to find her friends.

* * *

Will Solace, son of Apollo, stood at the camp's central hearth, waiting with the rest of Andi's friends as they got ready to set off to this Quipdtich World Cup thing that the youngest child of Zeus had invited them to. In the end, alongside himself, she'd managed to rope in Percy, Annabeth, and surprisingly, a very reluctant Thalia to come along with her.

Andi had of course approached her other close friends but they couldn't make it.

Katie had apologised but her dad had been hospitalized and she had to go home to check in on him.

Castor and Pollux, in turn, had been barred from going by their dad because he didn't trust them to spend time with Andi outside Camp after what happened last Christmas.

Clarisse, for her part, had just outright said, to no one's surprise, that she wasn't interested in "some silly magical sport on brooms" and just refused to go. Andi had understood, thankfully, and wasn't too put out. For once, Will was pleased with the daughter of Ares' bad attitude.

Silena couldn't make it either since her dad had booked an overseas holiday to spend some time with her. Andi had confessed that she actually felt a little bad about asking Silena, because her last minute surprise had actually put the other girl on the spot and made her try to convince her dad to reschedule. Unfortunately, her dad couldn't get leave off work on any other days on such short notice.

The fact that the others couldn't attend was a shame. Thalia however was a completely different kettle of fish. The punk girl was only going because _everyone_ told her to. Heck, even Mr. D gave her lip, and told her to just go. Frankly, Will wished she hadn't agreed. He, like so many other campers, wasn't the biggest fan of the older daughter of Zeus.

Especially the ones she tended to put in the infirmary.

She essentially just kept adding to his workload.

Andi looked like someone on a sugar high with how excited she seemed. Now Will wasn't a major sports fan, but Andi seemed to look like one of those big time fans right now. Not that it was bad or anything. Just a little unexpected.

In fact, looking at it now, he couldn't help but smile at how she was behaving. It was nice to see her bouncing back after the attack on camp.

"Everyone here?" Andi asked as she skipped up to the hearth. "Got your bags?"

Everyone nodded.

"Alright then, let's head out." Andi declared as she turned to face the hearth. "Twelve Grimmauld Place!"

And then the fire ate her.

"Err… Chiron, you sure it's safe?" Will asked the centaur, who had come to see them off, uncertainly.

"Don't be a baby, Will. It's perfectly fine." Annabeth told him as she walked up next and shouted the same words as Andi did.

She was gone in a flash of fire too.

"So do I need a permission slip to be eaten by fire or-" Percy started off, but Chiron just chuckled.

"Not to worry, Percy. It's all perfectly safe. And legal."

"Well, if it's legal." Percy shrugged and took a step into the green flames. "So I just say Twelve Grimmauld Place-whoa!"

With that, Percy was gone.

"I'm not comfortable with this." Thalia frowned, glaring at the crackling flames.

Will smirked. "Well, if you're scared, I'll go next."

"Just do it." Will heard Chiron say. He could imagine the centaur smirking at the use of such an iconic catchphrase even as he glared at Thalia sternly. Even the ancient Trainer of Heroes was not pleased with the elder daughter of Zeus' attitude.

This was all that Will managed to catch though before the flames turned green and engulfed him.

He hobbled out of a fireplace, nearly falling on his face but with some effort managed to get his footing without tripping.

"And yet another sticks the landing." Andi said even as she giggled, loudly enough to fill the air of the gloomy looking living room.

"Lucky him." Percy sourly noted, rubbing his red nose. "I got a face full of chair."

"You should keep on your toes better, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth teased with a smirk.

Percy just pouted at her.

"Welcome, welcome." A scruffy older looking guy said, smiling at him from behind a beard. He had a twinkle in his eye that reminded the son of Apollo all too much of Cabin Eleven. "Please to have you here, uh?"

"Will Solace." Andi told him.

"Right, thanks for coming, Will. Welcome."

Andi moved next to Will, grinning. "Will, this is my crazy godfather, Sirius Black."

"It's seriously his name." Percy quipped, getting a bark of laughter from the older man.

"I like this one." Sirius said as he reined in his barking laugh. "Andi, you think he's cute?"

Andi and Percy gagged at the insinuation, even as Will joined Annabeth in glaring at Andi's godfather. The man just laughed up a storm at the reactions.

"As much as I find a barnacle cute." Andi shot back as her nausea passed.

"Wow, thanks."

"Just being honest, Baywatch."

The fireplace spat out Thalia, she stumbled coming out, but ultimately managed to remain on her feet.

"That… was annoying."

"You think everything's annoying." Percy pointed out.

Thalia gave him a look. "Doesn't make it less true."

Will rolled his eyes, typical Thalia. She was always complaining about something and was never willing to admit it.

"That everyone?" Sirius asked, though he did squint his eyes at the elder daughter of Zeus. Glancing back at Andi, he eyed her closely before returning his gaze back to Thalia. "You two look pretty alike? She's some long-lost cousin of yours, Andi?"

His tone was playful.

"No relation." Thalia said without hesitation, ignoring the way Andi flinched at her heartless comment.

Will could honestly see the smugness in her eyes as she did. Andi couldn't exactly rebuke her either since it's kind of hard to explain how they were related to a mortal.

"Yeah." Andi told her godfather, looking depressed as she did so.

Sirius frowned and pulled his goddaughter into a hug. "Hey, cheer up. You've got me and Remus, we're your family, ok?"

 _And all of camp, you know, the people who've done more in a summer than you guys have?_

Okay, maybe Will was being mean, but in all fairness it was true. He was the son of Apollo, he knew about truths.

Andi seemed to agree with him though as she frowned at the man.

"So are we going right to this World Cup or not?" Percy cut into the tense atmosphere.

"Time zone difference must be confusing you. It's past dinner here. So the Cup's tomorrow. Plus, we gotta wait for Remus and Arthur's boy." Sirius told them. "How about some drinks? I think we have some pumpkin juice and butterbeer. Kreacher!"

"Yes Master Blood Traitor?" A decrepit voice asked as a freakish little creature teleported into view.

All the campers startled and reached for their weapons but paused when Sirius addressed the creature without any surprise at its sudden appearance, though he sounded plenty angry. "I told you not to call me that!"

"Whatever you say, Master Wastrel." The creature shot back venomously. In response, Sirius raised his hand as if to smack the thing.

"Question. What is that?" Percy pointed at the creature, looking slightly on edge if the way he tightly gripped the pen that Will knew to be Riptide was anything to go by.

His question seemed to calm Sirius down and the man let his hand fall to his side.

"Just a house elf. Think magical servants." Andi told them, but gave the elf a frown. "Haven't seen one this, well, old?"

"He's a decrepit bag of bones." Sirius glared down at the tiny creature. "Get us some butterbeer for the kids. And don't you put anything it, you little beasty."

"Kreacher happily serves the House of Black."

With that, it teleported away again.

"Be sure to check your drinks." Sirius told them all, grimacing. "Little bastard never liked me after I didn't side with the purists in the family."

"I'll pass on the drink." Thalia quickly said. Annabeth, Percy, and Will quickly said the same. To Will's surprise, Andi passed on it too.

"Had a drink before we came. Thanks though, Sirius." She said as she flashed her godfather an apologetic smile.

"Oh, well, if you're sure." The shaggy haired man said.

There was a loud pop, like a car backing up, making everyone reach for their weapons all over again. Spinning to face the source of the noise, they saw a man and a boy about their age had appeared just in front of the front door that was just visible from the room they were in.

"You're late Remus." Sirius said with a stern glare, that was belied by his teasing smile. "Andi and her friends got here ages ago. And to think that you left early so you could make it back before she did."

"Sorry, we're late." The man, Remus, offered seemingly genuinely apologetic as he walked towards them. "Molly held us up with her goodbyes."

"And the goodies she had us take along for the Cup tomorrow." A tall redheaded boy added happily as he trailed after the man, lifting up a very full looking picnic basket as he did so.

"Alright, now that's some grub I can eat." Andi cheered and walked up to the ginger guy, Ron, Will figured and gave him a light jab to the arm. "You get bigger again?"

Ron just smirked at her. "Yup. While I think you're just getting shorter."

"...Don't make me bust ya shin, you prat." The pixie girl rebutted with a poke to his chest.

Ron let out a laugh that might have sounded nervous if not for the shit eating grin that he was sporting alongside it. "Please don't."

Andi just smirked at him. "No promises."

Ron looked at the rest of the demigods and leaned down to Andi's ear. He muttered something to her and Andi just nodded. The ginger looked at them with a look of awe, like they were the coolest thing he'd never seen.

"How about we take a small tour and hunker into our rooms for the night?"

The elf returned then with a tray of drinks, barely giving the creature a glance, Sirius gave him an order. "Forget the drinks. Take that basket of food and put it away in the pantry. We're taking it with us to the Cup tomorrow, so no tampering with it. Understood?"

"As you command." The elf said sullenly as he teleported away once more, this time with the picnic basket in tow.

"Now how about a tour of the house?" Sirius offered.

The other man, Remus, said. "That sounds good."

The half-bloods and Ron all went along with it.

Sirius pointed up. "Let's start upstairs, you can put your bags there too."

As they began leaving the living room and headed towards the stairs, an animated portrait, Andi had explained them to Will once, began to yell at them.

"More freaks?! You dare let these swine walk through our sacred house?! Leave this house you filthy muggles! Do not dare darken my house with your vil-!"

Sirius ran up to it and forcefully shut the curtain that covered the painting.

"Merlin quit your yapping!" The man snapped and shouted out towards his disrespectful elf. "You opened it again, you little imp! I told you not to!"

Kreacher teleported next to them once more. "Mistress Black needed to be aired out."

"Go clean something, you useless thing!"

"Of course Master Blood Traitor."

As Sirius huffed and puffed trying to recover his breath, Andi asked. "So who's the portrait of?"

"My mother." Sirius told her with as much disdain as possible before stalking off.

"Sirius never got along with his mother." Remus explained as he ushered everyone after his angry friend. "He was too much of a 'white sheep', as he'd say, in the Black family."

"That's sad." Andi frowned.

"Perhaps." Remus said with a shrug. "But not everyone has a happy family. All of us just have to make do with what we have."

Andi, Annabeth and Thalia all seemed to agree even if they showed it in different ways. Andi nodded sadly. Annabeth looked away with a wistful look on her face. Thalia just glared at Andi.

"You all go find a room." Lupin said when they reached the first floor and it was clear that Sirius had not waited for them. "The whole floor is full of them. I'm going to go check on Sirius."

After the man left, Andi turned to look at them all. "Alright, find a bunk and get comfy. Tomorrow's the big day!"

Her cheer felt forced, as if she was embarrassed over what had happened over the course of just coming here.

"Got some Quidditch posters for ya birthday, Andi." Ron told her. "Ireland, right?"

"Damn right, Ron. Let's find a room and you can show me, ok?"

Andi wandered off with Ron. Will and Percy moved to follow, but Annabeth stopped them.

"Let's talk," Annabeth said seriously. "About Andi."

"Not interested." Thalia said dismissively as stalked off to find a room.

"Of course you're not." The blonde child of Athena frowned at her friend's retreating frame. She turned towards Percy and Will and started explaining her dilemma.

"I think that Andi's godfather has an ulterior motive in wanting to show off his grand old manor." The girl said as she gestured around her at the elaborate trappings of the house. Will had to admit that even though the house looked a little run down, it still very clearly screamed wealth.

"Like?" Will quirked a brow, even if he had a good idea what she was going to say.

"To try and get her to stay here." Annabeth clarified.

The son of Poseidon snorted. "As if that'd ever happen."

"Doesn't mean he isn't trying." Annabeth countered sternly. "Why else do you think he was trying to show this off? He's her godfather. Legally, he has guardianship over her."

"He was in prison though, so wasn't that right taken away?" Will brought up.

"Not after he was cleared." Annabeth said with a shake of his head. "All that isn't the point though. What _is_ important is what it implies about how the Wizarding World looks at Andi."

"And that is?" Percy asked.

"That they _want_ her. Whether Andi wants to stay or not. To them, she's seen as some symbol of that ridiculous title of hers." The blonde knitted her brow. "You think they're going to let their national hero go wherever she wants? Or like her godfather, want her to be part of his family even when they don't even know her. He's desperate for a family after years alone in prison, you think he would accept it if she ever chooses to leave him behind?"

Will frowned in thought. "While I agree on some level, I think you might be going a little overboard. We've been here for not even an hour, Annabeth. Let's not cement our opinions just yet."

"Will, you're being too optimistic."

"Logic isn't everything in life, Annabeth."

At their little standoff, Percy got between them. "Let's just find rooms, guys. We've got a big tomorrow if anything Andi said is to go by."

"Fine." "Okay."

Percy cracked a grin at them.

* * *

"I'm going to punt that thing." Thalia said as the little elf left them their breakfast, insulting them all in the process. She looked cranky as Tartarus with the dark rings under her eyes. Seems like she didn't get much sleep due to the time zone change.

"Can you go five minutes without threatening violence?" Will asked her in return.

"Can you not act so chipper?"

"I'm a morning person." The son of Apollo offered a sly smile.

Thalia could only glare at him.

Andi ignored the byplay. She was too preoccupied with worrying about the list of Horcruxes that had mysteriously appeared on the bedside table overnight and that she'd found when she woke up. Confused, she'd taken a quick look at the list and spotted that one of the vile soul anchors was in 12 Grimmauld Place. It didn't take a genius to figure out what the list's sudden appearance meant. It was very obviously a reminder by her patron Hecate that she wanted her to continue working on her quest - one she'd quite honestly all but forgotten about recently - and destroy the Horcrux hidden in the house.

Unfortunately, Andi didn't think she could do anything about it. She couldn't exactly run off to find the thing when Lupin and Sirius didn't know why she would do something like that. It would lead to questions, and somehow she just knew Dumbledore would get involved.

The old man was not really high on her list of people she trusted right now, so getting him involved would just make everything a mess.

Well, either that or Andi would have to tell them about being a demigod. And that would be a whole load of drama she'd rather avoid.

Plus, they were all about to rush off to the World Cup!

She couldn't exactly say: Hey wait, I gotta go find this evil soul fragment first!

Yeah, the youngest child of Zeus didn't see that going over well.

The demigod would just have to deal with it once the Cup was over or at a later date.

There wasn't any harm in that, right?

...Shite, she had just jinxed herself, didn't she?

Heaving a sigh into her breakfast, she turned to Sirius to ask a question that had been on her mind for a while. Hopefully this would distract her from her worries. "So what happened with the Rat? I mean, you're free, so that must mean he's locked up now, right?"

Swallowing a piece of bacon, her godfather let out a laugh. It was low and nearly deranged. "The lil bastard got Kissed by a Dementor after a long and painful interrogation. Spilled the location of Voldemort's wand. Don't ask me how that coward got his paws on it. Anyways, his Ministerness' got it hanging on a plaque in his office now. Like he defeated the Dark Lord himself or something."

Andi's lip quirked. "Good to finally see some justice delivered."

"I can drink to that!" Sirius cheered merrily. Lupin simply nodded, looking pleased but less enthusiastically so. Andi might have been wrong, but he almost looked somewhat sad.

Annabeth frowned. "Kissed by those Dementors? They eat a person's soul when they do that!" Gasping the daughter of Athena levelled a glare at the wizards in the room. "That's a barbaric form of execution."

With a frown, Will turned away from his breakfast. "Didn't ancient Greece toss babies out into the wild if they weren't good enough? Not much room to judge here, Annabeth."

"That was Sparta."

"They were just the biggest culprit." Will rebuffed Annabeth's evasion.

The daughter of Athena looked displeased at having been out talked.

Percy couldn't stop the smile on his face. Probably because someone had managed to get Annabeth to clam up in a verbal debate.

"Point to Cabin Seven."

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain!"

Andi giggled as she finished her breakfast. Now wasn't the time for worrying, it was nearly time for the World Cup.

She could worry all she want later.

* * *

"So why did that group come by a shoe?" Percy asked as he thumbed over to a group of magicals.

"That's a portkey." Ron told him. "Lets you teleport to a select location tied to it."

"Like a warp button?"

"Uh, sure?"

"So we got Enterprise tech, er, magic, here. Cool."

"Percy, if you're going to make a reference. Do it right." Annabeth frowned at him. "It doesn't kill and reconstruct you on the other end. From what I read it transports you through some kind of corridor through space. Like a more portable floo network. You can even physically feel yourself moving."

"...Are you a Trekkie?" Percy paused, looking at her up and down.

Annabeth flustered. "What? No!"

"She likes Spock." Will grinned at her teasingly. They would have classic show nights at camp once in awhile. Let's just say Annabeth was all for the blue uniforms.

"Will!"

"Huh, who would have thought." Percy simply said as he continued. "Still don't get why it's a shoe though."

"It's innocuous? Something so muggles would overlook it if they came across it?" Annabeth suggested, her cheeks still rosy.

"Percy, mate, let it go." Andi told him.

"I know it's stupid, Percy." Annabeth added. "They could hand the things out where there aren't any muggles, then they would be able to use something a lot more sensible."

"Logic and wizards don't mix well most of the time." Andi said with a shrug.

Thalia huffed, while shooting Andi a pointed look. "I can get behind that."

Will glared at Thalia for that, but then Thalia had plenty of practice shrugging off disapproving looks and totally ignored him.

"And we wonder what crawled up yours."

At Percy's dry comment, the elder daughter of Zeus glared at him.

"Wanna say that again?"

"I would, but I think you'd have a problem with security if you get all zap happy." The son of Poseidon happily pointed to a group of roaming wizards in matching robes and security badges on their shoulders.

"Tch, like I'm afraid of some wimpy mortals with sticks."

"A single killing curse would drop you dead." Will reminded, as he walked off, unwilling to deal with Thalia and her attitude.

The son of Apollo saddled up next to Andi as she and her wizard friend were arguing on which country was going to win.

"I keep telling ya Andi. Bulgaria's got this in the bag. They've got Krum!"

"And I call shite on that. Ireland's going to ace this whole cup." The tiny daughter of Zeus sniffed.

"Why's that?" Will couldn't help but ask.

Andi looked smug as could be with a cute smirk on her face. "I'm wearing my lucky cloud printed knickers. Never lost a Quidditch match in them."

Will stopped in his tracks, the image coming to his mind and his face turned crimson. Percy had also turned red, but was groaning as if in pain. Thalia just snorted, as if she found this to be typical.

Annabeth, her face flushed, rushed over to grab Andi aside. The two girls began whispering furiously, with Andi's face growing more and more red as they talked. She also looked shamefaced. Will reasoned the daughter of Athena was probably explaining to the socially oblivious shorter girl how it was inappropriate to talk about her underwear in public.

After a couple minutes, Andi came back, looking scarlet, and muttered. "So… Ignore that. Forever. Now."

"Already bleached from my brain." Percy quipped.

Will on the other hand would not be forgetting that. Nor the mental image it painted for him. Puberty was not being kind to him right now. Curse his Father's artistic vision and its hereditariness!

"Still, no way Ireland's going to win." Ron told her stubbornly.

"Whatever, Ron. Just be ready to lose those chocolate frog cards."

Caught up in their conversations, they had all fallen well behind Sirius and Lupin. Clearly noticing it, Andi's godfather shouted back at them. "Hey kids, hurry up! We need to stick together in this crowd."

And what a crowd it was. It was a colorful sea of bright robes, worn literally by thousands of wizards that milled around the swampy campground that was occupied by hundreds of tents that came in all shapes and sizes. Some looked like traditional tents but many looked like they were imitating houses, castles, and a couple were even shaped like famous landmarks such as the pyramids of Giza and Big Ben!

The whole group followed along but Will noted Annabeth did so all while glaring at the two men who were their hosts. Her ire wasn't limited to that though, as the girl turned to look at Ron's back as he chatted with Andi, she commented to the other Campers. "Tall and lanky over there is a hanger on. Andi's famous in the Wizarding World. From what I can see, the guy is just sticking around for that fame. I mean, if he was smart, he would be angry with what Andi did. Instead, he's excited by the fact she's a demigod."

She turned her steel grey eyes towards Sirius and Remus next. "Those two? Andi's technically the last thing linked to her stepfather, their best friend. And frankly, that's all they see."

"And finally, there's that Hermione girl." She said bringing up Andi's former good friend. "She abandoned Andi. For understandable reasons, but she still did."

"All I'm trying to say is that they're so caught up in who she's related to or her fame, that they don't see a girl who needs help. So no Will, I am not being paranoid or something. I just see the facts."

"How long have you been thinking on this?" Percy asked her, frowning now.

Will knew Annabeth could be a touch overprotective about their friend. Heck, even downright territorial. However, this was a tad excessive even then.

"Since we went to Surrey to get her things back."

Thalia rolled her eyes at that. "Boohoo! So she had a shitty childhood. News flash, most of us do. No call to give her special treatment."

"Is that honestly what you think we give Andi?" Annabeth asked with a sound as if Thalia's statement was some kind of epiphany.

Thalia didn't reply, instead looking away and walking off, catching up to and walking next to the two wizards.

"That explains something at least." Annabeth sighed. She adjusted her backpack strap and hurried forward. "Come on, boys. Let's not get left behind."

It took a while before they could squeeze their way through the crowds and to their tent. It was a replica of 12 Grimmauld Place made miniature and in fabric. One that was bigger on the inside. It didn't impress the Campers though. They'd all seen Andi's space distorting wardrobe after all and in comparison to the Cabins back at Camp, the tent's aesthetics was nothing to write home about.

At least it looked cleaner compared to the house.

"Let's put our stuff down." Remus said with a smile as he opened the door to the tent.

"Let's!" Ron said happily. "The sooner we do, the sooner we can head over to the Stadium. I don't want to miss a single minute of the Cup."

"Agreed. After muddling up my case so bad, Fudge practically gave away our own little box." Sirius winked. "Really good seats. So let's not waste it!"

"Oh! I can't wait!" Andi cheered, joining in on the enthusiasm. "Come on, let's hurry up."

With that she rushed into the house, Ron and the two men following not far behind.

The Campers exchanged a look and with a shrug followed after the others at a much more sedate pace.

* * *

"I feel like I'm at the World Series." Percy commented as he watched thousands upon thousands of people cheering. Flags waved, banners were spread everywhere, and there were of course the guys who painted half their bodies in their team colors. "But not feeling the hype of it."

In fact, the son of Poseidon looked bored.

The stadium was a massive affair that could house a hundred thousand people, if the programme for the Cup was indicative of anything. Draped in scarlet, it was a splendid venue all set to host a grand event. The only detraction was the prevalent advertising that was all over the place, even the two huge blackboards at either side of the stadium was being used to display them as well.

"'A display from the team mascots will precede the match,"' Annabeth said reading from the programme for the day.

"Oh that's always nice to watch," Remus said with a smile. "The national teams always bring creatures from their homelands to put up a pre-game performance."

As the stadium filled up, a voice echoed over the whole arena, booming into every corner of the stands.

"Ladies and gentlemen...welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"

The spectators screamed and clapped. Thousands of flags waved, adding their discordant national anthems to the racket. The huge blackboard on either side of the stadium was wiped clear of its last message (an advertisement for Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans) and instead turned to show the score instead.

"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce...the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"

The right-hand side of the stands, which was a solid block of scarlet, roared its approval.

"Hmm… Hey, Remus, what do you think the Bulgarians brought?"

"No idea, Sirius." Remus said as he leaned forward in his seat to take a better look. "Aaah! Veela!"

"Nice!"

"What are veel -?" Percy started, but was cut off as Sirius let out a wolf whistle at the sight.

The answer provided itself as about a hundred women, veela apparently, glided out onto the field. Each and every one was beautiful. Almost inhumanly so, like they were some kind of monster. With porcelain skin, white-gold hair and delicate features, they seemed nearly sculpted.

Then some cheesy music that felt like it came out of the thirties started to play.

All around the stadium, men and even some women stood up as if mesmerized by the display. Much more than their pretty looks alone could account for.

So the Bulgarian team brought hypnotizing cheerleaders? Will found that disappointing and a cheap tactic to mess with the other team. Sure, they were pretty and all, but he was stuck with girls that were half god.

Seriously, if he wanted to look at something pretty, he's go gawk like an idiot at Cabin Ten with his brothers.

Or just hang out with Andi.

Sirius and Remus looked at the boys with a twinkle of respect. Well, all of them but Ron, who seemed to be ready to jump down into the stadium to get closer to the Veela.

Percy scoffed and whispered. "This is nothing. Once you've had Circe charm you, that's not much in comparison."

"Yeah. Plus Charmspeak is way more powerful." The son of the sun god agreed.

The music finally stopped and Andi kicked Ron in the shin.

"Come on Ron! You're embarrassing me!" She hissed at the dopey faced ginger.

As the Veela's performance ended and they moved off the pitch, angry yells were filled the stadium. The crowd didn't want the veela to go. Will frankly didn't understand the attraction.

"Huh?" Said Ron, staring open mouthed at the Veela, as they lined up along one side of the field.

"And now," roared Ludo Bagman's voice, "kindly put your wands in the air...for the Irish National Team Mascots!"

Next moment, what seemed to be a great green-and-gold comet came zooming into the stadium. It did one circuit of the stadium, then split into two smaller comets, each hurtling toward the goal posts. A rainbow arced suddenly across the field, connecting the two balls of light. The crowd oooohed and aaaaahed, as though at a fireworks display. Suddenly the rainbow faded and the balls of light reunited and merged; forming a great shimmering shamrock, which rose up into the sky and began to soar over the stands. Something like golden rain seemed to be falling from it.

"Excellent!" yelled Ron as the shamrock soared over them, and heavy gold coins rained from it, bouncing off their heads and seats. Squinting up at the shamrock, Will realized that it was actually comprised of thousands of tiny little bearded men with red vests, each carrying a minute lamp of gold or green.

"Okay someone remind me to get some Skittles, because I just tasted the rainbow." Percy said, using his shirt to catch the gold. "Percy's getting a new bike this school year!"

"Whoo!" Andi cheered as she did the same with a glimmer in her eyes. "Leprechauns rule! Go Ireland!"

The crowd was applauding, many of whom were still fighting and rummaging around under their chairs to retrieve the gold.

Will laughed at their reactions and nearly doubled over at seeing Annabeth making grabs for the gold too.

"...I need a new sketching table. That's all."

"Uh-huh." The medic dryly noted.

His fellow blonde did have a point though. The infirmary could use some more modern medical equipment, like a centrifuge. And maybe some other shiny toys.

With that, Will started to collect some gold, but at a far more sedate pace. Hell, even Thalia was snatching up a few coins and stuffing them into her pockets.

"There you go," Ron yelled happily, stuffing a fistful of gold coins into Andi's hand, "for the Omnioculars! Now you've got to buy me a Christmas present, ha!"

"Hey don't worry about it Ron," Andi said pushing the gold back. "It was a gift I bought for you, I don't expect you to pay me back."

"You sure?" Ron said as he accepted the gold back and looked at the binoculars-like thing that Andi had bought for him from one of the vendors they ran across when they entered the stadium. After having bought one for herself too, of course.

"Duh. Just take it."

 _You can be real generous, Andi._ Will smiled. _Maybe a bit_ too _generous though._

The two adult wizards seemed amused by the whole thing.

"Hey kids, you guys do know that leprechaun gold will disappear after a few hours, right?" Sirius teased.

Everyone but the two men in the box groaned and threw their leprechaun gold to the ground, their faces a picture of disappointment.

"And Percy's not getting that new bike. Percy is sad."

"Annabeth tells Percy to stop talking in the third person or else."

"...Percy considers this."

While Percabeth were having a moment, the great shamrock dissolved, the leprechauns drifted down onto the field on the opposite side from the veela, and settled themselves cross-legged to watch the match.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome - the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you - Dimitrov!"

A scarlet-clad figure on a broomstick, moving so fast it was blurred, shot out onto the field from an entrance far below, to wild applause from the Bulgarian supporters.

"Ivanova!"

A second scarlet-robed player zoomed out.

"Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaaand - Krum!"

"That's him, that's him!" yelled Ron, following Krum with his Omnioculars. Andi quickly focused her own.

Viktor Krum was arguably one of the most famous Quidditch players in the world. Andi had wanted to see him in person ever since she'd first heard of him.

Personally, the son of Apollo thought the guy looked like some overgrown bird of prey. He was thin, dark, and sallow-skinned, with a large curved nose and thick black eyebrows. Still, it was hard to believe he was only eighteen.

"And now, please greet - the Irish National Quidditch Team!" yelled Bagman. "Presenting - Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Aaaaaand - Lynch!"

Seven green blurs swept onto the field.

"Wow!" Andi gasped. "They're all flying on Firebolts!"

"That's right. How's yours been treating you, Andi?" Sirius asked, making Andi wilt for a second. She bounced back with a bright and cheery smile.

"It's great Sirius. Fly it all the time." Andi said insincerely.

Will frowned. That had been a lie. Andi hadn't flown at all since she got back from her quest in the Sea of Monsters.

"And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!"

A small and skinny wizard, completely bald but with a huge mustache, wearing robes of pure gold to match the stadium, strode out onto the field. A silver whistle was protruding from under the mustache, and he was carrying a large wooden crate under one arm, his broomstick under the other.

Mounting his broom, the referee kicked the crate open. This released the game's balls and after giving them a moment to fly around the field, he shot into the air after them with a loud blow of his whistle.

"Theeeeeeeey're OFF!" Screamed Bagman. "And it's Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran!"

"Gotta ask, what's this game about?" Percy asked, breaking the concentration of those watching the match.

Amazingly, both Will and Thalia looked at him as if he was an idiot.

Percy immediately held up his hands. "Hey, didn't come for the game. I came along just to chill with Andi."

Andi, her eyes rapidly following the match thanks to their naturally gifted ADHD, started to simplify the rules for him.

"And the match ends if you catch the golden snitch."

"Okay, yeah. Baseball is way better and less complicated. And also less fatal sounding."

Andi scoffed. "Please! I only nearly died, like, three times. Tops."

And with that unnerving tidbit, the group of demigods settled to watch the match.

* * *

After a good ten minutes into the match, the demigods were bored out their gourds. Minus Andi of course.

"This is boring."

"Yeah, they're just tossing balls around."

Will nodded, the ball was being passed around in the pitch for what to him was no reason.

"It's silly." Will added his own opinion. "It's needlessly dangerous. Those Bludger things are deadly."

"Andi's arm got shattered by one." Ron said behind a mouthful of those Bertie Botts jelly beans.

"Seriously? Ridiculous." Annabeth said, crossing her arms in frustration. "Then there's the whole thing with the Golden Snitch. I mean, it counts for so many points that it can invalidate the rest of the game? _And_ the game only ends when it's caught? Madness."

"The whole thing is crap." Thalia said, summing up what the whole group thought.

Lupin chuckled. "No surprise that you all would think that. Many magically aware muggles and muggleborn think the same. They are especially confused by the way the game can stretch on if the Snitch isn't caught. Why, one game even lasted for three months because no one could find the snitch!"

"If this lasts longer than the night, I'm going back home." Thalia firmly declared.

Her fellow campers gave her annoyed looks at that.

Will was just thankful that Andi hadn't heard what her sister had said, she was too busy hurling very British insults at the Bulgarians to notice. Despite everything, he knew that the younger sister was hoping that spending time with the older girl during this trip would help to heal their strained relationship some.

It was becoming clear that wasn't going to be happening.

Still, he was glad that Andi seemed to be enjoying herself. She was so utterly caught up in the whole Quidditch World Cup. She was watching the game with rapt attention.

And had bought tons of memorabilia, including a small Leprechaun hat that she was currently wearing that made her look incredibly cute.

The son of Apollo was a little shocked though by the extent that this enthusiasm seemed to have overcome the other wizards though. It was unnerving, honestly, to see people like Sirius and Ron devolve into fanatics. By Tartarus, even Lupin was getting sucked in even if he was a bit more subdued about it.

"It's like we're at a giant sports bar on game night." Percy noted, to nods from all the Campers.

It was amidst this uncomfortable atmosphere, that Will and the others waited out the hour plus match. As it finally ended with a 170-160 Irish victory, Will couldn't stop himself from thanking the gods that the match hadn't dragged on longer than it had. Quidditch, in his opinion, wasn't fun to watch at all.

"Ha!" Andi whooped, nearly doing a flip in the air. "Told you lot, my lucky-er, nevermind."

Her face was red, and she refused to look at any of the boys until she got control of her blush. The second she did however, she began to tease Ron. "Seems your man-crush lost, Ronny~!"

"So? At least he did it in style! Did you see that catch? Doubt you could've done better."

Andi looked like she wanted to say something, but surprisingly kept her lips zipped.

 _She must thinking about how she might not ever be able to play Quidditch again, what with her new fear of flying._

Even if no one had said anything about it. From the way Andi had refused to fly at all ever since she got back from her quest, it was pretty obvious. The way she locked up at the mere mention of it during training sometimes, didn't help her attempts to keep it secret either.

Annabeth seemed to have shared his worries, and went over to give Andi a comforting hug.

It was because Will was looking at Andi worriedly that he spotted a crowd of people in oddly uniform black robes pushing their way through the crowds towards the "muggles'" cabin from over the girl's shoulder.

 _Are they some kind of club? Who would pick pure black for their club outfit?_ Will scratched his head at this. Maybe they were mourning their loss and had used the color switching spell that Andi had shown him once? Who knew.

 _Well, it's none of my business._ The son of Apollo thought as he and his companions joined the crowds filing out of the stadium and on their way back to their tents.

* * *

Will and everyone else were all in their assigned beds in the tent when suddenly shrieks of terror could be heard and all the demigods shot up on reflex at the noise.

"What's going on?" Thalia demanded, her loud voice echoing through the walls of the tent. Will, exited his room to find the others already there, weapons - thankfully still in their mortal guises or in the case of Annabeth's dagger hidden from immediate view behind her back- in hand.

"Oi!" Remus shouted as he spotted Andi in only her panties. "Andi! Go get dressed."

Will immediately looked away, his face burning.

"Tell us what's going on first." The little pixie of a girl demanded, her arms thankfully crossed over her chest now and protecting a little more of her modesty.

"Get dressed and I'll explain as you do!" The man shouted, before adding in an afterthought. "The rest of you do it too."

Huffing in annoyance, the youngest daughter of Zeus turned to obey. Will following suit, whatever was going on, he had a feeling he didn't want to deal with it in his PJs.

"There's been a fire. The Ministry has issued a precautionary mandatory evacuation." He explained hurriedly from the hall while in their rooms Will and he presumed the others, changed out of the PJs.

"It can't be a simple fire. A few spells and that'll be handled." Ron countered.

"You're right. It's not just a fire, it's the local imps too." Lupin added. "They were all driven out when the campgrounds were set up. You can imagine why they would be unhappy."

"But since when have imps used fire?" Andi's voice shouted out as Will began lacing up his sneakers.

"Since someone had the bright idea to give them urns filled with Ashwinders."

"How do you even know this?" A fully dressed Annabeth asked as Will exited his own room. Percy hobbled out of his room as he pulled his shoe on and Thalia was shoving her arm through her leather jacket. Andi was the last out in her tee-shirt, jean shorts and her hi-tops.

"Happy?" She asked sarcastically.

"Much better." The man said with a nod, before his eyes swept along the hall doing a head count. "As for your question, one of the Ministry personnel that's running around telling people to evacuate said so." Remus explained. "Good. Everyone's here. Let's go."

With that Remus led them all out of the tent to meet up with Sirius who was waiting just outside the door, eying something off in the middle distance anxiously. Will glanced in the direction and gulped at the large blaze he could see incinerating swathes of the tent city that was the Quidditch World Cup's campgrounds.

Clearly sensing his nerves, the shaggy haired man put a comforting shoulder on the blonde boy's shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. We're perfectly safe. It looks bad but with a little magic, it'll be out in a jiffy. Just you wait." Sweeping his hand over the crowd all around them. "Just look at everyone else, they aren't panicking, so you don't need to either. Fire isn't _that_ big a deal for us wizards."

"Maybe but I still wish we were near an ocean." Percy said while sporting a tight scowl on his face, his grip on his pen vice tight. He looked to Andi and Thalia. "Think we can get a rainstorm or something here?"

"Percy!" Annabeth hissed at him and pointed to Sirius and Remus. "Mortals resistant to the Mist."

The son of Poseidon looked apologetic.

"Maybe we should go help?" Andi said voicing the opinion of all the Campers.

"Not on my life." Sirius said sternly. "I'm not letting you run off into danger. Leave this to the Ministry."

Andi's eyes were scanning everything with a worried look on her face. "But where's the Ministry folk anyways?"

Sirius pointed out to some in the distance. "They're already on the job trying to round up the imps and ashwinders. The Ashwinders especially are a right pain, but the Ministry guys are professionals, they can handle this."

"Still-!"

Whatever Andi was going to say to continue the argument was lost however when her voice was drowned out by screams as the crowd around them suddenly swelled and began running away from something.

The group turned as one to see what had caused the sudden change in the crowd. Some distance away, somewhere between them and the flames there were a familiar group of men in black robes, but this time their robes were complemented by white skull masks.

"Death Eaters." Sirius snarled like a rabid dog, a dangerous twinkle in his eye.

"Sirius." Remus warned him.

"Figures that lot would be behind this! Okay, we're getting you kids outta here. Now." The shaggy man said while he pulled out his wand. "Stay in a group and let's head to the Floo."

A group of people was hovering in midair over the crowd of man. Will recognized the people in the air as the muggle family who owned the land the campgrounds was set up on and whose cabin was next to where the wizards had set up the Floo for the event. He'd seen them as they'd arrived the day before.

The muggle family was being spun in the air by the the black robed men who were laughing as they did so as if what they were doing was nothing more than a joke. Will didn't agree though. Not when they were turning the mother of the family upside down to make her nightgown fall to show her underwear to the world. They also kept hitting them with flashes of light, spells, that caused welts and swelling.

"And now I'm pissed off." Percy snarled and uncapped Riptide, pointing it towards the men. "Hero time guys. Let's whoop their butts!"

"Don't tell me what to do." Thalia told him as she transformed her spear into its true form and shot a bolt of static at one of the Death Eaters. The surprise attack struck true and the unsuspecting man collapsed.

 _Way to go overboard, Thalia! The dude's smoking for gods' sake!_

That drew the attention of all the Death Eaters, making them drop the muggle family and turn to point their wands at the group of heroes and three wizards instead.

Annabeth put on her Yankee's hat, disappearing from view. "Scatter and take them down."

Percy and Thalia just charged at the group, unfazed as spells flew at them. They just blocked and swatted the spells away with ease with their Celestial Bronze weapons.

Three of the Death Eaters had their wands destroyed by Andi's pinpoint accuracy with her bow. "I've got you covered from here!"

"What are you kids doing?!" Sirius snapped at them in surprise.

Ron just had an excited look on his face.

Andi cracked a grin at him as she fired another arrow of wind. "What comes naturally to us."

Will personally wasn't a fighter, he was far more of a healer. That didn't mean he couldn't fight though. He tapped the small Lyre ring on his right hand and a small short sword appeared in his hand. He couldn't exactly smuggle a bow and quiver for the trip, so this was the best he could do.

"Guys, we have to draw them apart!" Annabeth's voice called out. "They are too close together! It's too dangerous to fight them like this."

Percy deflected another spell and grabbed a nearby lantern, tossing it at a few Death Eaters. They zapped it with a spell, making it fall like a rock. Having caught their attention, he shouted at them. "Nice dresses! Your mommies made them for you? Because Halloween isn't until October losers!"

He bolted to the left, a few Death Eaters chasing after him.

Thalia shouted, "Aegis!" and her Gorgon shield appeared. The sight sent half of the Death Eaters running for their mothers. Sadly, she also scared some of the fleeing crowd into running right towards the fire. She groaned and complained. "Oh come on!"

She ran after them, dismissing her shield as she did so.

Andi jumped up on top of a unburnt tent and shouted loudly. "Girl-Who-Lived right here! Free target you bloody wankers!"

Giggling, she jumped away, a good amount of Death Eaters going after her.

"She's nuts!" Sirius exclaimed as he looked ready to run after her, but the remainder of the Death Eaters were still focused on them.

"Hold on." Will stopped him, as he readied for a fight. "We've got to deal with these guys first."

Sirius looked uncertain.

"Sirius!" Remus shouted as he drew his wand and leveled it at the Death Eaters.

"Fine! Let's deal with this idiots first and hurry after Andi."

"You don't have to tell me twice." The son of Apollo said and as one of the Death Eater's got closer, he snapped his fingers at him.

"Bomarda Marauda!" The Death Eater said only for his wand to spark but fail to do anything else.

Taking advantage of the man's confusion, Will charged him and punched him right in his throat and then kicked him below the belt for good measure. The wizard fell like a sack of potatoes.

Will had a broad smile on his face. _And people said a Couplets Curse would never be useful. Shows them._

"Guess he had too much to drink, the bloody nancy. Nice shot, kid." Sirius told him as he whipped his wand forward, causing a whip of light to spring into being and bash through a hastily made shield that one of the Death Eaters had conjured up. Sirius' opponent stumbled from the blow and was too distracted to defend himself against the follow-up strike that cracked him across the chest. "Whoo! Looks like I'm still as spry as I once was. Come on you tossers!"

 _Okay, he is seriously into this… And I just made a cringe level pun._ Will blanched as he snapped his fingers again at another Death Eater.

The black robed goon tried a spell but his wand just sparked uselessly. Like his compatriot, he was confused by his inability to use his magic properly. Capitalizing on his confusion, Lupin jabbed his wand at him in quick succession, launching bolts of light that slammed into the man. The first shot struck the man's wand hand and he was forced to drop his wand as he recoiled as if stung, leaving him defenseless as the other blots hit him leaving him hissing in pain with each hit.

Having taken more than he was willing to endure, the Death Eater fled, Remus' pain causing spells harrying him all the way.

"Run away like the coward you are!" Sirius taunted as he lashed out with a barrage of what looked like the same spell his friend was using at the couple of by now very uncertain looking Death Eaters that had not yet been dealt with.

Imitating their friend, they decided discretion was the better part of valor and fled.

With their opponents dealt with, Will turned to look at some of the others' fights. He was ready at a moment's notice to offer help. Not that anyone seemed to need it.

* * *

Percy just wished that for once a vacation would go right for him.

Go to a wacky sports game Andi said, free food she said, our own private box she said!

And then boom! Magical terrorists. As if regular ones weren't bad enough!

He even got to go to England, but demigod luck just had to follow them.

He swatted another spell away with Riptide, a bored look on his face. By his feet were three unconscious wizards that he had knocked out. The last one was proving a little more difficult though and was still trying to take the son of Poseidon out.

"Dude, just lay down with your hands on your head. This way, I don't break your nose or something."

"Insolent whelp! As if a filthy mudblood, who doesn't even have a wand, could defeat me!"

"...I did it to all these other guys. That's not saying much about you, Bonehead."

"You just caught us off guard with that enchanted sword of yours." The wizard said as he swung his wand in a wide arc, launching a barrage of dozens of spells flying Percy's way. "You don't have that advantage anymore."

 _Aw man!_ Percy grit his teeth as he tried but failed to deflect all the spells. One slammed into his chest and sent him reeling as if he had been punched in the gut. Another hit his arm and sent it jerking, causing him to lose his grip on Riptide and sending it flying. Now defenseless, he was forced to weather the remaining spells. He was burned, stung, and cut all over his body.

Disoriented, Percy fell onto his knees. Knowing he was in deep trouble, he reached out with his powers, calling out to the water scattered all across the campground.

"What now boy?! Not so smug are you?" The wizard snarled and a green light sparked at the tip of his wand. "Avada-!"

He was cut off as something bashed him in the back of his head, making him fall to the ground in a thud.

There was a shimmer of light and there stood Annabeth, grinning at him in the fire light.

Percy gave her a look. "I had that under control."

She just gave him that 'Uh-huh' look of hers.

It was somehow annoying yet cute all at once.

Annabeth jogged to his side and started to help him up. "So what did we learn?"

Percy just gave her a deadpanned expression. "Magic sucks."

"Not what I was going for, but sure, let's go with that for now."

"Just find me a bucket of water."

* * *

Meanwhile, Thalia, the punk themed daughter of Zeus was beyond annoyed.

First she was forced to go on some stupid trip with that annoying counselor of hers and now she had to fight a bunch of assholes that thought torching a campsite was a fantastic idea!

 _This sucks_ , was a continuous mantra in her head as she used Aegis to herd the black robed freaks away from the innocents.

Sadly, the other magical idiots were also caught up in the fearful effects of her shield.

"Can these people be anymore stupid? Get out of the way!" She shouted at the civilians.

She couldn't get a clear shot on the terrorists.

When this was over, Thalia was going to give that twerp that brought her to this mess a piece of her mind!

* * *

Flipping over a spell, Andi giggled and exclaimed, "Missed again!"

Feeling that she was a safe distance from any innocent bystanders, most of the civilians were far away and it was just her, the group of Death Eaters, and a few torched tents. She'd already taken out four of them with various sneak attacks, and only three of them were left now. It was time to get serious and counterattack and finish this.

Along the way, she had done her best to annoy the Death Eaters. Making them angry so that they would get sloppy. Helped along by her successes at taking out members of their number. All the while, she used her air powers to snuff the fires out to take away the light source and use the dark to her advantage.

Unfortunately, the Death Eaters, especially the three that remained - likely the most skilled -, were obviously used to fighting in the dark and quickly compensated with lumos spells and conjuring balls of light.

So using the shadows was out. It didn't deter her though! She just had to wait for them to get a bit closer. She kept up with fighting the flames though, she wasn't fireproof after all and snuffing them out just made the whole place safer.

"Come on, I'm just one little girl." She smiled while taking steps backwards and the Death Eaters stalked towards her with their wands drawn.

Just as two stepped forward, Andi snapped her fingers.

An explosion of air erupted beneath the two, sending one of them soaring backwards all while screaming shrilly. The other man though had kept a safe distance from his fellow and had escaped the worst of her air mine's power and merely stumbled and lost his balance.

Andi cursed her timing, she still needed to work on that.

She didn't have much time to think on the matter however as even as the man tripped and fell on his back, he managed to fire off a curse in her direction.

She jumped to the side to avoid the curse, but the spell still managed to nick her in the side. Overcome with pain, she screamed out. Looking down, she saw her shirt had been sliced open and blood was staining the fabric. The guy had just tried to slice her in half with a cutting curse!

The time she took to inspect her injury gave the Death Eater time to stand back up and as Andi returned her focus to him, she found herself having to dodge like crazy as the man unleashed a rain of spells on her.

"You damn twat!" She cursed twisting to avoid the barrage, painfully pulling on her wound the whole time. Despite that, she managed to focus enough to fire off a stunner at him. The man was so preoccupied with pressing his own attack that he didn't even dodge and the spell hit him, knocking the bloke out. However, not before one of his spells managed to wound the child of Zeus once more, managing to send her reeling back as her left shoulder got hit by a stinging jinx which caused her to hiss in pain.

Andi forced herself to smile, despite the pain that was wracking her body, at having successfully taking out her opponent when her instincts screamed at her. Spinning away, she barely managed to avoid a spell that had been sent her way by the last Death Eater that in the heat of the battle she'd nearly forgotten about.

"Okay, now I am pissed right the hell off."

The Death Eater ignored her posturing though and sent a barrage of spells her way. Cursing under her breath, Andi spun out of the way even as she used her power to conjure ropes out of the air that she sent lashing out at the Death Eater in the hope of pinning him down. Things wouldn't be so easy though. As the tightly bound streams of wind came within a few inches of the last skulled freak, he whipped his wand and somehow just banished her rope trick.

"Didn't know magic could do that." Andi frowned and did a super leap to the left, avoiding another barrage of spells. She landed and ducked down, going into a roll to save her skin as yet another barrage of spells flew over her head. As she got out of the roll, she aimed her bow at the Death Eater and fired two air bomb arrows behind him to knock him off his footing.

He managed to banish one arrow and toss up a shield to protect him from the explosion of the other.

 _Okay, so he's got some skill. Just gotta up my game._ Andi told herself as she decided to get tricky here. For the next few minutes, it was the same song and dance between the two combatants. Andi would try and snare the Death Eater, while he continued to try and hit her with his spells.

That changed when Andi heard him shout out, "Avada Kedavra!"

All her instincts told her to go up, up as high as she could. That he wouldn't be able to hit her if she had the whole sky to fly around in to evade his spells. Instead she blasted herself to the right, tumbling along the ground, covering herself in dirt and ash. It allowed her to evade the killing curse though, so that was a small price to pay.

Spitting out ash, she pushed herself up. "Okay, let's back up here guy. Calm ya tits for a bit and-"

Unable to even finish her sentence, she was forced to roll to the side once more as the Death Eater shot a Crucio her way.

"This is a thing now!" Andi declared as she nimbly avoided the spell. "Well fine!"

She pointed her palm at the wizard and unleashed a rapid barrage of air hammers at him. The shots of distorted air rained at the man at a blurring speed.

The Death Eater proved himself a nimble bastard though and dodged around the barrage, helped along with a conjured wall of stone that provided him with temporary cover from the hammers that he couldn't dance away from.

A wicked idea popped into Andi's little noggin as she grinned. She continued her barrage, smashing the stone to rubble, forcing him to stick to defense. At the same time, she split her focus and conjured a new set of air ropes for a little surprise.

As he erected a protego before him to replace his destroyed wall, Andi's other hand twitched and the air ropes she set up like a snare by the now crumbled wall jumped at him. The bounded wind wrapped around him tightly, forcing the bugger to his knees, his arms snapping back sharply and causing him to cry out in pain. He dropped his wand in the process and he struggled like a caged animal.

 _So much for pureblood dignity. Tie them up and they're just the same as everyone else._

Ceasing her barrage, Andi pointed her finger at him like a gun, aiming for his chest. "Say night night~!"

Just as she was about to fire a single air hammer to knock the wind right out of him, the sky lit up with a eerie green light. Looking up, Andi saw that someone had conjured the holographic image of a skull with a snake crawling out of its sockets all enshrouded with a neon green mist.

The sudden gaudy art in the sky distracted Andi as her shot fired, and she messed up how much power she wanted to put into her air hammer.

Instead of hitting the man with just enough force to either give him a debilitating concussion or just outright knock him unconscious, she had instead poured enough power into the attack to knock his head clean off.

Looking down at the rolling head, Andi suddenly felt numb.

"Oh shite."

* * *

 **And now that we got the head, uh, ball rolling again with Andi, its great to get back into the HP side of things again. Thanks to my awesome team as usual of Nameless and Axios.**

 **Someone got Phoenix's number? Because someone's going to need an attorney!**

 **Nameless: Andi is in so much trouble. Wondering how she'll get out of it? Stay tuned and find out.**

 **In the brilliant words of Barney Stinson: Suit Up!**

 **Nameless: On another note, we got a look at how the Campers measure up against wizards. Pretty good, all things told. But if they let their guard down, like Percy did, they can still be badly hurt. Oh, and Thalia is proving herself terrible at using Aegis. No surprise there, this is basically the first time she's using it with anywhere near so many allies and innocents around after all. It'll take her some practice to get it down.**

 **Be sure to remember that this is Percy with only two years of training, not Hero of Olympus Percy. I mean, if it was? Well, body count thy numbers belong to Perseus Jackson! Yeah, I did a Zoe? Wanna fight about it?**

 **So we've shown Will's side of things. Loved doing his character, and how he finds Andi's adorb moments cute. Or just get embarrassed by her lack of tact. Awkward~! Or is it?!**

 **Nameless: He's cute, yes? Well, personally I thought seeing Thalia's behavior here was more interesting. It's reinforcing that she doesn't see Andi as a sister and an annoyance.**

 **Pot meet kettle, guess what I just found out!**

 **Nameless: Yup. We'll give Thalia a chance to vent soon. Then you'll get why she's behaving the way she is. For the time being, just bear with us**

 **And that's all you're getting from us!**

 **Remember to smash that review button and tell us what you loved! No flames and peace off my peeps!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.**

 **The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans**

 **Chapter Eight: Why is Justice Blind?**

 **Beta: ShadowofAxios**

* * *

Andi just looked at the severed head, the crumpled body and the large pool of blood in shock. _Oh gods…_

"Is it safe?" A nervous voice came from somewhere nearby, Andi wasn't sure where. She was too freaked out by what she'd done to bother checking.

"The fighting's stopped." Another voice said.

Again Andi ignored it as she just stared blankly at the head. Only now noticing that somewhere along the line, it had lost the Death Eater mask that had kept its face hidden. A face that even though her air hammer had done a pretty number on, Andi still recognized.

 _Lucius Malfoy._ Andi noted absently. _I just killed Draco's dad._

It was at this point it seemed that someone else noticed the body. Something that they made very obvious when a scream split the air.

"A body!"

Andi turned to this voice, she honestly didn't know why. Maybe to explain herself, maybe to silence him somehow. She honestly couldn't say.

Whatever it was she intended, it definitely wasn't what did happen.

"She killed him!" The man who had was apparently the source of the voice shouted as he pointed at Andi. His words were followed by more screams.

"Call the Aurors!"

"Run! Before she kills us next!"

"Murder!"

"Murderer!"

As the crowd ran away like she was the next Dark Lady or something, the demigod of Zeus backed away slowly from the body.

"Oh shite, oh shite." Andi muttered in a panic, her actions finally hitting her.

She nearly buckled then and there at what she had done, but she knew she couldn't stay here. Turning around, she bolted into the direction she came from as fast as she could, leaving a cloud of dust and ash behind her.

She weaved between people coming out to see if it was safe, her heart pounding against her ribcage as panic consumed her.

It started to clear up, just a little thought, when she _finally_ saw a familiar messy mop of blond hair. As she came to a stop among her friends, she managed to at last regain some semblance of calm.

"Guys!" She shouted, feeling winded, but not physically. Panting, she continued. "I-I did something."

At her dancing around the situation, Annabeth gave her a raised brow, looking at her up and down. "Are you okay? Did you run into more of those guys?"

"Not exactly…"

"What happened?" Will asked, concern in his eyes.

Andi looked down at her feet, shuffling them nervously. She was fearful of what they would think of her after she told them what had happened.

"Uh, well. I-"

"Out with it already!" Thalia demanded unkindly.

Her eyes wide and her whole body shaking, she answered in a panicked rush. "I just killed someone."

"What!?"

* * *

Will couldn't believe what he'd just heard. He had to have been imagining things, right? There was no way that Andi had said that she'd killed someone.

Thalia however had no such doubts. While Will and everyone else were shocked speechless, the elder daughter of Zeus tore into her sister.

"You did what?!" The older girl snapped, causing Andi to shrink away from the shout. "You killed a mortal?"

Andi gave a terrified nod.

Thalia began to laugh then. A terrible mocking laugh that set everyone on edge. "So you're a murderer, huh?"

The younger sister recoiled at being called a murderer but her elder sister had no mercy for her.

"I should have expected as much." The punk girl said in a disappointed voice. "You're just like Luke aren't you? Heck, you're worse. At least he didn't kill anyone."

"You're comparing her to _him_?!" Percy actually snapped, glaring menacingly at Thalia with those green eyes of his in a way that sent a chill up Will's spine. The son of Poseidon was all healed up thanks to his water healing and a hymn from the son of Apollo, but he still looked like he'd gone through a meat grinder. This combined with his intense expression made him look like a young Rambo just back from Vietnam and ready to kick butt.

"I'm sorry, but back up. Are we talking about the psycho who not only poisoned you, but also tried to kill me and everyone at camp multiple times? You know, the guy trying to raise the Titans? If we are, then you've been in that tree for too long and moss has grown in your brain, because that's the only way you can possibly think that he's not a murderer." Percy said with that sharp tongue of his.

Thalia stumbled a little, as if all those things had slipped her mind. She recovered quickly though, "Well, he's not _actually_ killed anyone has he?"

"I'm sure all those demigods he fed to his pet Drakon on his pleasure cruise disagree. And are you even hearing yourself? We're at war, you think he's some saint?" He narrowed his eyes. "Whose side are you on?"

The elder daughter of the skies fumbled for a reply for a moment, but couldn't come up with anything. So unwilling to admit defeat she just settled for glaring angrily at the son of Poseidon. The two descending into an intense staring contest.

Annabeth looked torn about who to support and was forced to just stand there looking on helplessly as her two close friends glared at each other.

"Andi." Will said soothingly as he put an arm around the shaking girl's shoulder, who flinched at the touch. "Let's get you back to the tent."

Thankfully theirs was still intact.

As Will begun guiding the shaken Andi inside, the contest of wills between Thalia and Percy came to a conclusion.

"Yeah, I win." Percy told Thalia as she turned on her heel and stalked off.

"Whatever. I let you, Jackson." The stubborn daughter of Zeus shot back over her shoulder.

"By setting yourself up for failure." Percy snorted under his breath. He turned back to Andi, the intensity in his eyes gone. Instead, they looked like a calm ocean now as he walked over and said. "Hey, it's going to be okay. I mean, he was gunning for you, right? You probably didn't have much of a choice."

"It was self-defense." Annabeth offered reassuringly. "I'm sure everything will be fine."

Andi didn't seem to have heard them though as she flinched a little as they entered the tent's interior.

"They called me a murderer."

"They're wrong." Percy told her sternly, but kindly.

Will ushered the shell-shocked girl into her room where she immediately rushed onto the bed and curled into a ball.

"Are you okay?" He knew it was a dumb question, but it was one that always needed to be asked. It was a reflex of his that he'd developed as a healer.

"...No." Her usual loud and merry voice replaced by the softest and meekest voice you could imagine.

Percy and Annabeth stood by the door, looking worried. Annabeth sent Will a look that said: Say something.

Taking a breath, Will patted her shoulder gently and started talking. "It's going to be okay. You know that."

"No it isn't! Nothing is going to be okay! I killed someone!" She said in a muffled hiss, as she started to rock herself.

"That's not true. And I should know." Will managed a weak chuckle, trying to lighten the situation.

He failed if Andi's muffled sob was anything to go by.

He looked towards their friends and found that Annabeth was giving him the "you are so stupid" look.

She usually saved that for Percy.

"Andi-" Percy began but Annabeth elbowed him and shot the boy the same look.

"Sure Lucius was an arse, but he didn't deserve this." Andi said in a tearful voice. "A kick in the ribs, maybe? But not this."

"He was a terrorist, Andi." Annabeth said in a soft voice, the kind you would usually used when trying not to spook an agitated animal. "You killing him was doing the world a favor."

"Even if he _did_ deserve it, what gives me the right to decide that?" The daughter of the god of justice shot back, looking up at her friends.

"Annabeth's right, Andi." Will said, picking up the conversation. "The wizarding justice system let him off once, right? Even though they were sure he was a killer?"

Andi nodded hesitantly.

"Then you were just rectifying an injustice created by a corrupt system." Will offered.

Andi shook her head at this. "Even if that's true. I didn't need to have been so brutal. I literally knocked his head off for gods' sake! It was an accident, but still!"

Without a clue on how to respond, Will shot Annabeth a look.

Unfortunately, they were saved from the necessity of such by Lupin shouting Andi's name.

"Andi!" Lupin called out as he rushed into the tent, an out of breath Ron barely keeping pace with him. In contrast to the Campers who had sensibly decided to stay close to the only landmark in the campground they knew, their own tent, they and Sirius had run off after the terrorists had been dealt with to look for Andi and were only now coming back.

"You need to get out of here. Now!" Lupin said. "The Aurors are almost here."

"Those wizard cops?" Annabeth inquired.

Lupin nodded grimly. "They're here to arrest Andi for murder."

"You have got to be kidding me." Percy said. "She's a minor, we were attacked, that's extenuating circumstances!"

Annabeth looked at him with wide eyes.

"I watch Law and Order."

The blonde conceded to that.

"That may be true, but we aren't dealing with muggles here. We're a _tad_ stricter on the use of magical violence." Lupin hedged nervously. "Even with extenuating circumstances, there's no escaping a stint in Azkaban."

"What?!"

* * *

Nymphadora "Never call me by my first name" Tonks, rookie Auror, apparated to the World Cup grounds along with her mentor and the rest of their team. Her hair was a shade of purple as she arrived but it quickly changed to a dark yellow in reflection of her growing nervousness over the situation. She was a young woman, nearly in her mid-twenties, with a nice figure and pleasant face and dark twinkling eyes, who despite the harshness of her job, still carried herself with some bubbliness.

"Alright, you maggots. You know the drill. Spread out and secure the perimeter." Her mentor and squad leader, Auror Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody barked as they all regained their bearings.

Moody was a veteran of the force and he had the scars to prove it. His face looked like it had been roughly carved from wood and was covered with scars he'd earned battling countless Dark Wizards and criminals throughout the course of his career. Something his dark grey, grizzled hair utterly failed to hide. Not when he was missing a chunk of his nose and had a wooden leg.

What was the most striking thing about him however were his eyes. One was small and dark while the other was a vivid, electric blue magical eye that moved around independently from his normal eye. It was this that earned him the nickname of "Mad-Eye Moody", or simply "Mad-Eye". He'd once confessed to Tonks that he'd hated the moniker at first, but the eye was too damn useful to change. The thing after all let him see through objects, Invisibility cloaks and even the back of his own head. So he'd learned to live with and even embrace the nom de guerre.

She respected the man immensely and normally would never even think of second guessing his orders, but the case they were assigned today was so out there that she couldn't stop herself.

"Uh sir? Why are we going to arrest the Girl-Who-Lived?" Tonks asked tentatively.

"Got nothin' ta do with her being the Girl-Who-Lived." Moody told her sharply. His hand shot into the air, deftly catching a tiny something that had darted towards him at high speed. It had moved so fast that Tonks had barely even registered that it was there. He opened his palm to reveal that it was a paper bullet, the Auror's main means of sending speedy messages between themselves when in the field. He unraveled it and nodded to himself as he read it. "Seems Black's obstructing the team already here. They think Potter's gonna use the time he's buyin' her to run."

He gave his team a look with that magical eye of his and barked. "So you know what ta do!"

"Constant vigilance!" The whole team said, some dryly, others seriously.

"Damn right." The old man said and started to hobble forward on his walking stick. "Come on, ladies! We're guarding the Floo Access Point."

As they marched along the scorched landscape full of civilians huddling together tightly in fear, Moody continued his explanation. "She's offed someone-"

"In clear self defense, sir. I mean, it was a Death Eater for crying out loud." Tonk's said sourly, still plenty worked up over the situation. So much so that it drowned out how jazzed she was over her bastard of an uncle finally biting the big one. It was a long time coming in her opinion. "You've read the preliminary reports."

"So you want to just let her go after she kills someone?" Moody asked coolly, his magical eye leveling her with an unflinching glare.

"Of course not," Tonks clarified. "We should be bringing her in for questioning yes, just to set the record straight, but not arresting her for murder."

Dawlish sneered at her. "I thought Moody knocked that idealistic garbage out of you, rookie? Stop being a twit."

"Both ya shut ya traps." Moody gruffly chided them both. "I was talkin'. Tonks, don't matter if it was self-defense. Potter killed with a wand, a weapon, so she's gotta be hauled in."

"It's self-defense! He probably tried to use an unforgivable." She spat.

"And she killed him." Moody countered.

Tonks was about to reply, but Moody cut her off by continuing.

"The Ministry doesn't give a damn about any self-defense or any other extenuating circumstances for that matter. At least not enough to spare them a trip to Azkaban. It might reduce the sentence a bit, but that's about it. Nothing more than that. Not when someone uses their wand to kill. You should know this."

She did know that, it was part of her training, but she thought it was just an anachronism of the law that the blowhards in the Ministry never got around to bother changing.

 _It wasn't like they would send people to Azkaban just for defending themselves, right?_

Moody just shook his head and grunted. "You're naive, Tonks. Tell me what would happen if we let people off easy for things like self-defense?"

"It would be fair?" She offered uncertainly.

The rest of her team burst into mocking laughter at this.

"Fair, she says."

"What an idiot!"

"Shut up, ya jokers!" Moody shouted. "Don't forget that we're in the field!"

At that reminder, the Aurors calmed themselves. Well, mostly anyways. A few were clearly still snickering. By now they had arrived at their destination and were scattering to do their job and establishing a perimeter.

"As for ya, Tonks," Moody said turning to face, effectively ordering her without words to stay. "If they did that then people would just be a lot more tempted to kill with magic. Fakin' self-defense and all that shite is easy, if you have half a brain. So ta keep everyone from throwin' deadly magic at the drop of a hat, the Ministry is deliberately harsh to ensure most wizards are too scared shitless of the legal fallout ta ever use their wands as weapons like they are."

"That's just not fair." She hastily argued.

Dawlish snorted. "Why don't you tell that to the next person shooting deadly magic at you. Oh wait! They almost never happens, because people are too scared of going to Azkaban to do so."

"Easy Dawlish." Moody told the man, but agreed. "He's got a point, Tonks. It ain't bout bein' fair, it's 'bout the rules."

Tonks herself just felt uneasy over the whole situation.

"I'm not all for it neither, trust me." Moody grunted once more. "It works though, so all we can do is keep enforcing it. Our job is dangerous as is, why make it harder?"

Tonks was about to ask if there was no better way when they were interrupted by one of their squadmates rushing over.

"Moody, there's some girl creating a fuss over on my end." The man told their squad leader. "I left her with Walsh, but I think you better come along."

"A kid? Mandric ya must be losin' your touch." Moody scolded the man. "Come on then, I'll come help ya."

* * *

After a tense half hour of sneaking around burnt tents and terrified wizards, the demigods finally arrived at the Floo Point at the mortal cottage. If they had been on their own, they likely would have taken even longer, maybe even got caught. But thanks to Lupin, they managed to make reasonably good time.

Unfortunately, despite that they found the whole area crawling with those wizard cops.

Will had to wonder when demigods ever got a break? The answer was clearly never because their bad luck was just snowballing today.

It was a minor consolation however, that it wasn't just them. It seemed Thalia, despite going off on her own had found herself having trouble with the local law enforcement too.

"I just want to go home!" The girl snapped at the officer interviewing her.

"Just a few more questions." The man said in what might have been an attempt at a soothing voice but was laced with frustration, even as he was joined by three of his colleagues.

Thalia looked ready to punch his lights out. That might have been helpful though, they needed a distraction of some kind.

"Hey! There's Potter!" Someone shouted, spotting them.

Percy winced. "Busted."

"Why didn't we cover her?" Will hissed to the group.

"Because that would look even more suspicious." Annabeth hissed right back.

The Aurors drew their wands and pointed them at the group. "Freeze! Hand Potter over, she's under arrest for murder."

"Yeah, no." Thalia frowned at the officers. "As much as I hate to admit it, I'm with these guys and I'm not about to let you arrest them."

Tapping her silver charm bracelet, she said. "Aegis!"

The shield of fright came to life and she pointed it at the Aurors. The sight of the horrific gorgon's face made the wizards run away screaming for Merlin.

 _Wow, she used that thing the right way for once._ Will couldn't help but think with a snort.

Lupin looked at the demigods. "Go, I'll leave them a false trail to follow."

"You sure?" Percy asked him.

"Yes, now get her out of here." He ordered as he cast a sad look at the still shaken Andi and left in a hurry.

The group rushed towards the nearest firepit. Annabeth was at the lead and was about to call out their destination, when the flames suddenly turned green.

"Come quickly." A motherly voice echoed from the fire.

"Thanks Aunt Hestia." Will heard Andi mutter.

Yeah, the goddess was a real lifesaver here.

They jumped into the fire and popped right out of the campfire at Camp Half-Blood, tumbling to the ground. It was no longer dark outside and instead his Dad's chariot was slowly peaking over the horizon. The camp was lacking life, no doubt since whatever campers that hadn't gone home yet were still asleep.

Will stood up, helping Andi up in the process too as Percy dusted the grass off his face.

"I can't believe that place." Percy spat, looking angry once more.

Andi just nodded in agreement to him and said. "I'm done with the Wizarding World."

Will tried to comfort her. "I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding, let's not make big declarations here."

The girl shook her head. "I'm not going to Azkaban for this, Will. I've lost a lot to the Wizarding World, but I'm not letting them just do whatever they want to me anymore. They can sod off."

"You've got my support." Percy said even as he directed an angry glare at the flames of the hearth, and the wizards on the other end of it. "It's a madhouse. I mean Andi kills a terrorist in defense of innocent people and then _she's_ the one wanted for murder?"

"I can see where they're coming from." Annabeth conceded grudgingly. "They want to maintain their monopoly on violence by discouraging the average folk from using it by making use of going to that Azkaban place as a deterrent. But the extent that they are taking things- Urgh! It's too much."

Will agreed with them and very much wanted to rant at the stupidity of the wizards too, but that wouldn't help Andi. One of them needed to be the calm one here.

Amazingly, Thalia wasn't fanning any flames and instead looked disinterested over the whole debacle. Or at least she was trying to.

"I'm going back to sleep, I'm drained." Andi stated.

Will nodded and helped her towards Cabin One.

Behind them, he could hear Percy and Annabeth still complaining about the wizards. Will would join them later, he needed to vent too, but for now he had to make sure Andi got to bed. She needed some rest.

* * *

Andi had pretty much locked herself up in her cabin for next day, Hunter faithfully by her side as they laid in bed. She had a girl's best friend, a tub of root beer ice cream, by her side and was eating away some of her woes.

Said woes only seemed to increase at the tapping on her door. She wagged her finger, and the door opened, and a bald eagle came swooping in to land on her bed softly, a letter tied to its leg.

"...You're with the American Ministry, aren't you?" The daughter of Zeus took a shot in the dark.

The bald eagle nodded and screeched, _"For you."_

"Thanks." She muttered as she untied the letter from the offered leg.

 _Dear Miss Potter,_

 _I am Rebecca Chambers, Deputy Secretary of Magic of the United States of America . Normally, I would not be writing to you directly over matters like this. However, your father, Lord Zeus, impressed upon my Department the need to do so. While we American Wizards do not necessarily worship the Olympians, we do respect them as keepers of the Heart of the West, hence my acquiescing to his request for a more personal touch in informing you about matters at hand._

"Wow, so they know about dad." Andi felt somewhat warmed over the fact her father was strong arming the American Ministry to get them to help her.

 _I have digressed long enough however, so let us get down to business._ _I regret to inform you that you have been declared a fugitive by the British Ministry of Magic._

"Terrific." Andi drawled and looked to Hunter. "We're going to need another pint of ice cream."

Hunter barked in agreement.

 _It appears that they have accused you of murder, though from their rhetoric they seem to have convicted you of it already. Typical of the British Ministry and its mockery of a justice system._

"Okay, real glad to have citizenship here." Andi said, at least this country had your back!

 _However, you can rest assured that you are safe for the moment. We do not deport our own citizens. That said, the British are pursuing your extradition. A process that if successful will unfortunately lead to your arrest and transfer over to their jurisdiction. While, I and my Department deplore this, as you do not deserve a stay in that accursed British prison, Azkaban, we are powerless to stop the process. The British have been meticulous in following the procedures to the letter._

 _As such, I must strongly advise you to hire legal counsel immediately to fight the extradition and the case in Britain as well. We assure you that on our own end at least, we will do our utmost to provide you a fair hearing._

 _I hope that these legal problems are dealt with in your favor._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Rebecca Chambers._

 _Deputy Secretary of Magic of the United States of America_

Andi chewed her bottom lip and crawled out of bed. "Best show this to Chiron." She looked over to the eagle and said. "Thanks for the delivery. Want something to eat? I'm sure I can find something."

The eagle screeched, _"No thanks."_

With a flap of his wings, the avian flew off.

"Fly safe!" The child of Zeus waved him off and looked to Hunter. "Come on boy, time for walkies."

* * *

Chiron hummed as his sharp eyes scanned the letter. Both he and Andi were seated at the patio of the Big House, Mr. D was there too, holding a wanted poster like it was a piece of memorabilia. The damn thing featured a photo of her talking to Malfoy's conjured snake back during Lockhart's farce of a dueling club in her Second Year. It was quite the sinister image, even in Andi's mind, as without sound it just showed her conversing with the deadly serpent as if she was commanding it. Add that to the way she was clutching her wand in a combative pose, it painted a very menacing picture indeed.

The god's mad purple eyes looked eager. "Can you sign it?"

"Mr. D." Chiron warned, his gaze not leaving the letter.

"I told you this would happen some day, old chap. I just want it to be worth more in the next century or two."

"No thanks." Andi dryly told the god as she rubbed Hunter's ear as he laid his head comfortingly on her lap.

"Pity."

Nervously, the demigod of Zeus asked. "So how much trouble am I in? I mean, I'm on Wizarding Britain's Most Wanted. Tell it to me straight, Chiron. Am I doing to Azkaban?"

"No, you are not going to prison, Andi." Chiron reassured her. "Not if we have anything to do about it and I assure you that we do."

"I have some ideas."

"Mr. D, no one cares." Chiron tiredly noted, folding the letter up nicely and placed it on the table.

Mr. D's eyes flared purple for a moment at that, but the sky boomed overhead before he could do much more than that and he backed down, sinking into his chair all while muttering to himself about disrespectful centaurs.

"Spoils you girls, I swear. Best I got was being sewed to his thigh." Mr D. grouched. "He's even sending a nanny down to keep you safe. Like I ever got pampered like that. Why, when I was your age, I was already conquering kingdoms and partying like 1969. Even before it was a thing!"

"Nanny?" Andi reeled in surprise. "Like Mary Poppins?"

"Indeed, somewhat… Maybe." Chiron shook his head. "I will explain that in a moment, but before that let me assure you that these wizards are forgetting a clear loophole that we will lovingly exploit. We'll have you cleared of all charges in no time at all."

Andi gave a relieved sigh. If Chiron said things would be alright then she believed him. She had faith in the ancient Trainer of Heroes.

Seeing this, Chiron offered her a smile before continuing. "As for your new nanny. It'll be fine. You'll be in wonderful hands. She helped raised your father after all."

"Ah." Andi said, thinking back to the earliest part of her dad's history. He had a lot of people looking out for him when he was in godly diapers. Though considering how he turned out, both good and bad, was it really a good thing to have his childhood nanny come and take care of her?

"Okay." Andi said, sounding unimpressed, but Chiron just smiled at her.

"Don't worry about it, Andi, you'll be fine. She has plenty of experience."

"Yup, enough to know to turn you into a toad if you muck up enough." Mr. D added vindictively.

Chiron breathed through his nose in annoyance. "Why do you do this?"

"Are-Are you being rhetorical or do you want an honest answer?" Mr. D replied, looking genuinely confused.

Seeing that a argument was brewing, Andi decided it was time to beat a hasty retreat. "Er. If there's nothing else."

Chiron turned to reply, but Mr. D just gave her a dismissive wave. Taking the cue from the god, Andi fled. In the background, she could hear the two immortals start tearing into each other.

"Mr. D, I was not done."

"Well, you looked like you were."

"I wasn't and you know it!"

Andi thankfully managed to get out of earshot, even of her super-hearing, by then and missed out on the rest of the argument.

Feeling relieved to have dodged that bullet, she headed to the dining pavilion. She hadn't noticed it but time had flown by quicker than she'd ever expected while she'd been dealing with all the legal stuff. Something her rumbling stomach was now pointedly reminding her about.

 _Well, I guess it's time for lunch._

* * *

As lunch wound down, Andi decided it was time to talk to her friends about the latest pile of crap that had landed on her plate. Waving Clarisse and Bethy over to her table, she showed them the letter. They were both predictably outraged by what it said.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Damn fuckers!"

No guesses on who said what.

Their reactions caught some unwanted attention though and Thalia leaned over from the far side of the table, where she could be as far away from Andi as possible, and snatched up the letter to see what all the commotion was about.

"I knew you were going to jail!" Thalia said aloud as she finished reading, almost like she was gloating. "I mean look at you, you'll be passed around for a cigarette faster than you can get that orange jumper on."

"I'm not." Andi told her, trying to reach for the letter, but Thalia pulled away as she reread it. "Dad won't let it happen. Chiron says so."

"That's not what it says here." Thalia countered, "From the looks of it all the Brits have gotta do is dot their Is and cross their Ts and they'll be hauling your ass away in no time. FYI, try not to drop the soap."

"Thalia!" Annabeth glared.

"Come on, Annie, tell me she won't be losing her virginity to someone named Big Betty?"

"For the record," Andi glared, using her air powers to pull the letter back, thankfully avoiding ripping it to pieces as she did. "You have no idea how a wizard prison is like, so stop trying to freak me out."

It was sadly working though as Andi's nervousness was visible on her face.

"Oh shut up Cheryl Williams." Clarisse shot back even as she slammed a fork into the table right in front of Thalia. "At least we know who the Big Man likes better. Ain't that right?"

At her sneer, Thalia bared her teeth in return.

"Thalia this isn't a joking matter, so stop trying to scare her." Annabeth said firmly.

Thalia waved the blonde's complaint away. "It's not like the mortals have any hope of catching her. Not while she's in Camp."

"And for the rest of her life? We're not all going to be at Camp forever, Thalia."

The punk girl just shrugged.

This just served to infuriate the daughter of Athena, who replied in a scathing voice. "And what about you, Thalia? You've got a laundry list of things that could send you to Juvie too. You're going to turtle up here in Camp for the rest of your life?"

"Maybe?" Thalia shot back with a smirk. "I mean I'm still here aren't I? And not in Juvie, so that's a point to me. Besides all I have to do is wait out any outstanding warrants or whatever and I'll be fine."

"Murder doesn't have a statute of limitations, Thalia." The blonde explained in a furious hiss. "And the wizards aren't like normal mortals. The two situations are completely different."

"Like there's any difference." Thalia scoffed.

Annabeth ignored her and continued, "And more importantly unlike you, Andi respects the law."

Shaking her head in mock sadness, Thalia said, "Not my fault that she's such an idiot."

"Oh shut up!" The child of wisdom declared, her frustration clearly getting the better of her. "Just stop trying to freak Andi out."

"Whatever you say, Annie." Thalia said with a grating smile as she stalked off to cause trouble elsewhere.

"Bethy, it won't be as bad as Thalia says, right?" Andi asked her knowledgeable friend, her earlier confidence shaken by what Thalia had said.

"Of course not." Annabeth reassured. "The American Department of Magic isn't as insane as the British Ministry."

"They're still wizards" Andi pressed. "Can I trust them?"

"If we can't, then we'll just need to bash some more heads." Clarisse chimed in.

"I'm sure it's fine. I've done some research, just in case, and the Department of Magic isn't just a wizarding thing. It's part of the Federal government, set up after President George Washington, inspired by Lord Zeus himself, got fed up with the Magical Congress of the United States of America refusing to obey the laws of the land and dismantled it back in the 18th Century after the Bartholomew Barebones affair."

"We don't need no history lesson here, Princess."

"Right, sorry." Said with an apologetic smile. "What I'm trying to say is that the Department of Magic will be a lot more fair than the Ministry of Magic because it has Federal oversight."

"Like the Feds are always fair." Clarisse snorted.

"Clarisse! You're not helping."

"Fine. Fine." Clarisse said unconvincingly. "By the way, you really shouldn't worry so much, Andi. Murdering a terrorist? That's just gonna give you street cred. It's what fuckers like them deserve after all."

Andi knew Clarisse was only trying to help, that she used her name and not one of her many nicknames for her was proof of that. But it really wasn't doing any good.

"But I don't want to kill people." Andi said in a soft voice.

"Just stop helping." Annabeth bemoaned. "Please?"

"Geez, and you complain I'm not nice. And now when I am you get all up in my face about it? Make up your mind, Princess."

Andi managed a laugh despite the situation, her friends were weird.

Yet she'd trade them for nothing else.

* * *

The next day, Andi woke to the sound of shouting coming from outside her room. Scrambling to her feet, she pulled her shirt on and came out of her magical wardrobe to see Thalia dressed in only her Green Day shirt and checkered boxer shorts arguing with someone.

The unknown was a tall shapely woman with long purple hair. She was dressed in a slick business suit and a pair of oval glasses that gave her a stern look. Her eyes though were what was most striking about her. Even from a distance, Andi could see that they shimmered like crystal that reflected the light which made them seem like rainbows.

"No one let you in, get out!" Thalia demanded.

The woman just shot her a look one might reserve for a particularly annoying child throwing a tantrum. "I do not need _your_ permission to be here, daughter of Zeus. Not when I have your Father's."

Beside Andi, Hunter slipped out of her wardrobe door and raced over to enthusiastically greet the newcomer.

Scratching Hunter in just the right spot, the stern woman smiled at the dog.

"Hello, Kyon."

"Hunter." Andi corrected her on reflex, and felt bad for doing so. "Sorry, I mean, uh, welcome to our Cabin."

"His name is Kyon Khyseos." The woman shot back. "And that will be his name forevermore, no matter what you chose to call him yourself."

"I'm going to guess and say you're the new nanny Chiron mentioned." Andi steered the conversation in another direction.

"Indeed." The woman said with a slight bow. "I am Ida, nymph of Mount Ida and caretaker and teacher to Lord Zeus when he was but an infant."

"Wait, back up, as in when he was in godly diapers?" Thalia held her hands up. "Wow, you must be ancient."

Ida shot the older demigoddess a scathing look. "I see why your Father said to not focus on you now."

"What now?"

"You are clearly a loss cause." The immortal said with finality.

Sparks flew from Thalia's frame as she clearly lost her temper, her fists balled at her side. "Say that again."

"You are a lost cause." Ida repeated easily, blinking in a bored fashion.

Thalia lunged, her body encased in a corona of wildly arcing electricity. Ida didn't so much as bat an eyelid, instead she waved her hand dismissively at the charging demigoddess. As a result, the electrokinetic found herself flung off course, flying through the Cabin's doors which had conveniently snapped open to let her pass before slamming into the ground of the yard beyond.

The older girl was just pushing herself to her feet when the nymph clicked her fingers and the Cabin doors slammed shut in Thalia's face.

"I-I think she might need her clothes." Andi meekly pointed out, a pit filling her stomach now. This nymph was no joke, she had the whole scary teacher vibe to a T. With her here, Andi had a feeling she was Head Counselor in name only from now onwards.

"It doesn't matter." Ida brushed some of her purple hair over her shoulder. She pointed to a corner of the room where an alcove had been cleared out and been furnished overnight. "She can get some spares from the Camp Store. More importantly, it is time for the two of us to talk."

Andi nodded and followed the nymph over to a coffee table in the little alcove which she immediately recognized was a magically expanded space just like her wardrobe.

"Would you like a drink?" Ida offered. Andi just shook her head, she was too nervous to drink anything.

"Very well, let's get down to business then."

"Sure."

Ida smiled soothingly, obviously trying to ease the tension. Andi smiled back awkwardly.

"I'm here, Andromeda-"

"Andi, call me Andi." Andi corrected automatically.

"Andi then." Ida acknowledged. "I'd like to outline for you what my duties as your nanny will be."

"Go ahead." The demigoddess replied uncertainly.

"Thank you." Ida said as she continued to smile comfortingly. "The first of my duties is to take charge of your education. On that front, I have to inform you that your schooling at Hogwarts is at an end. After this latest fiasco in the Wizarding World, your Father is not letting you return."

Andi's mind was left reeling by this revelation. She might have said she wanted nothing to do with the Wizarding World anymore, but she hadn't really thought about what that meant. Not going back to Hogwarts? Never seeing Ron and all her school friends again?

"But my friends-"

Ida just shot her a stern look. "Are not worth your life."

"Like being a demigod is safe?" Andi shot back, a frown on her face.

"Of course not, but we're honest about the dangers involved in our world." Ida smoothly countered. "In contrast, Hogwarts claims to keep you safe and then repeatedly puts you in danger instead."

"Hogwarts isn't so ba-"

"The deadly obstacles protecting The Philosopher's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets, Dementors swarming you at school." The nymph listed, cutting Andi off. "And these are only the highlights. There are many more minor deadly situations you encountered in that place which purports to be the safest place in Wizarding Britain."

Andi had no counter to that. Ida was right, Hogwarts had been full of life or death situations during the daughter of Zeus' time there.

"Fine." Andi said with a defeated sigh, resting her elbows on the table. "Then where am I going to school then?"

"Right here in Camp." The ancient woman said as she snapped her fingers and conjured a small stack of paper that she passed to Andi. "I will be homeschooling you from now onwards. This is your curriculum overviews and reading lists for the subjects that I will be covering."

Resignedly, the daughter of Zeus began to flip through the stack. As she read what was expected of her, she felt a growing surge of panic. Unaware or more likely deliberately ignoring this, her nanny continued with her explanation.

"You will note that they will require quite a few new books and some other material besides. Do not worry about that, I have already made arrangements for everything you need to be delivered to your apartment by tomorrow. Any questions?"

Tentatively Andi raised her hand and waited for a nod from the woman before speaking. "Why are there muggle subjects here?"

"First things first, never use the term muggles again. It is considered an insult against non-magical mortals outside Europe and even there it is only seen as acceptable in the most isolationist or backward wizarding communities." Andi was staring at her wide eyed. She hadn't known that. She knew some people were uncomfortable with the term back in Wizarding Britain but she didn't think it was _that_ bad. "Call them mundanes instead."

Her head was still spinning at the implications about her former homeland that Ida's revelations had hinted at, as such Andi could only numbly nod.

"Secondly, they are there to help correct the horrible holes in your education attending that terrible school left behind."

Just an hour ago, Andi might have jumped to Hogwarts' defense in the face of Ida's disparaging remarks towards it but with how she was reevaluating her opinion of the place with each negative point, she just couldn't.

"Honestly, completely neglecting the mundane subjects?" Ida ranted, though the sharp look in her eyes as she did made Andi think she was doing this quite deliberately. "How would its graduates find any decent jobs outside of their tiny little community if the need arose? And even if that was not a concern, surely they can see how a solid grounding in say chemistry would be useful in Potions? Or how mundane astronomy has far outstripped their own knowledge of the cosmos?"

"I get it." Andi said meekly when her nanny looked ready to keep going. "Hogwarts didn't do a good job."

The mountain nymph smiled triumphantly. "Good that you do. Any more questions?"

"Just one." Andi said as she fidgeted and flipped through the papers. "Are you sure I can manage with all these subjects at one go?"

"Of course." The nanny said with complete confidence. "You will need to work hard, that is a given. But if you do, then I can assure you that you will not just manage but thrive. I will make sure of that."

Some of the immortal's confidence must have been infectious because after hearing her say that the witch couldn't help but believe it too.

"Now, if you have no more questions about your education for now." Ida paused and waited for Andi to shake her head before she continued. "Then I will explain the other part of my duties here: ensuring that you live up to the expectations of comportment as befitting a daughter of the God King of Olympus."

Andi had no idea what that meant but she had a bad feeling about this.

With another snap of her fingers, Ida conjured yet another sheet of paper which she promptly handed to Andi. It was a timetable, like the one that detailed the various activities she did on a daily basis at Camp. This one however was modified so many of those activities had been cut out and replaced by homeschool periods and-

"Etiquette lessons?" Andi gaped as her fingers tightened around the paper. "Why am I getting etiquette lessons?"

"As I said earlier, so that you can behave in a manner that befits your status as one of Lord Zeus' daughters."

"So Thalia will get these lessons too?"

"No." Ida said decisively. "Your Father has decreed that your elder sister is a lost cause on this front and that any effort would be a waste."

"That's-"

"Unfair? Cruel?" The nymph asked with a raised brow. "Perhaps, though I'm surprised you would be so charitable to her after how she's been treating you."

"How?"

"We nymphs, like everyone else, gossip. I've heard plenty about the relationship, such as it is, between you two from the Dryads and Naiads who live here at Camp."

"Oh." Andi honestly hadn't even thought about what the many dryads and naiads that lived in and around Camp did when she wasn't around. They just seemed to blend into the surroundings so well, perhaps intentionally so, that she just forgot they were there a lot of the time.

"Indeed." Ida said with a knowing smirk. "If it is any consolation to you, I suspect that your Father's decision is being influenced by something he has seen in your sister's future. Something that will make any lessons I can offer her meaningless."

"Um, I thought Apollo was the one with foresight?"

"All gods have some ability to see the future."

"Is it okay for gods to use it for something like this?" Andi asked with some worry. After all, trying to use futuresight to your advantage tends to end badly at times.

The nymph shrugged. "He merely said a few things. Nothing to be concerned over."

Andi sighed in disappointment, she'd hoped Ida would say more. Maybe drop some clues so she could figure out Thalia's future on her own, but it looked like the nymph was being tight lipped about it.

"Now onto the last bit of information I need to cover."

Andi couldn't help feeling relieved at hearing that. With everything that Ida was telling her, the demigod was on the verge of an information overload already, and was glad that it was almost over.

"You need no longer worry over your legal troubles. My sister Adraesteia has been assigned by your Father to be your lawyer and will clear up all the unpleasantness in no time at all."

"So she'll fight the extradition and everything?"

"Yes," Ida replied with a small smile and nod. "That should not be an issue. Olympus has a lot of sway in the American courts, both mundane and magical. After that, she plans to fight your murder charge with you in absentia. She does not trust the British wizards to not ignore due process and just proceed to send you straight into Azkaban like they did to your godfather in the past if you did show up."

"We'll win that easily too, right? I mean I did nothing wrong." Andi said in what she hoped was a flippant way, so as to hide her nervousness. "A bad guy attacked, I stopped him. That's what heroes do. They put so much stock in me being that for them, so just a little reminder and this will all go away. Right?"

The nanny didn't seem to agree, not if her disapproving look was anything to go by.

"Your logic might work for heroes. But for wizards?" She asked. Andi tried to fumble a reply, but Ida didn't wait for her. "What you did is clearly illegal by their laws."

"Well, their laws are stupid."

The nymph just shook her head with an air of deep disappointment. "No they are perfectly logical."

"Wha-!?" Andi was incredulous. Was her nanny saying she should go to Azkaban?

"Stop overreacting." Ida commanded. Andi glared at her but otherwise tried to calm down. She wanted to hear what the nymph had to say anyway. "Now, put yourself in their shoes. Condoning you killing with magic is setting a precedent that this is an acceptable thing."

"But I acted in self-defense!"

"Yes, but they have a slippery slope to worry about. If they allowed leeway for things like this then there will be more exceptions in time. Both you and I might disagree with them, that there should be _some_ exceptions, but overall their logic is sound."

 _Ugh, she's just saying the same thing Bethy is. If both of them are saying it, maybe they're right._

"...I guess that makes sense. I don't have to like it though."

"Nobody expects you to do so."

For a long moment, the two ladies sat there in silence. Andi mulling over what she'd learned and Ida observing her from behind steepled hands.

"Err. So what now?" Andi asked a few minutes later after having finished organizing her thoughts. "Any plans for today?"

"Only to observe you for now." Ida replied. "Go clean up and get ready for the day. I will wait for you here."

"Alright. See you in a bit."

With that, the daughter of Zeus set off for her apartment to freshen up for the day ahead.

 _I hope nothing else happens today. I think I'm at my limit already and I haven't even had breakfast yet._

* * *

Going to breakfast was a weird experience for Andi with her new nanny following her like a shadow. Every satyr seemed to be tripping over themselves as they went googly eyed at the sight of Ida. Even other campers were pointing and whispering at the nymph as well.

At the Cabin One table, Thalia - still dressed in her Green Day shirt and a pair of shorts she'd gotten somewhere - stormed off as soon as she spotted the pair, making her feel bad at what had happened earlier. Though Ida didn't seem to even acknowledge the girl.

After a quick sacrifice of food to the gods and a nice meal, Andi headed towards her first activity of the day.

Double archery.

Ida had taken to sitting under a nearby tree, a book in hand as she seemed to be both reading and observing the child of Zeus. Or she was till the tree's dryad showed up and started chatting with her. Andi noted however, that both nymphs kept shooting her looks so they were still watching her at least.

Will was there, thankfully not looking too bad after the whole Cup fiasco.

 _He must regret even coming._ Andi inwardly wilted at this, but greeted her friend with a cheerful wave and smile. "Morning."

"Morning. You feeling better?"

At his worried look, Andi gifted him with a small shy smile as she felt aflutter. "Yeah, just had to go through the motions and whatnot. Sorry for inviting you to that whole mess. It went pear shaped in no time flat."

"It was fun." He hastily assured her as he adjusted his quiver. "Well, at least until the whole set everything on fire thing."

"Yeah, weird things like that happen when I'm around. Not that I'm saying that I'm a magnet for trouble! Well, that'd be a lie, still, what I mean-Let's just shoot stuff."

At her stupid- Stupid!- rambling, she held up her bow and strided towards the firing line.

"Okay." As the blond lined up next to her on the line, he glanced over his shoulder to peek at Ida. "New friend?"

"More like Dad sending me my own Mary Poppins in a skirt suit. She's also my tutor and life manager now." Andi grumbled as she drew her wind rope back and fired an arrow that skewed right through her target's bullseye.

Will raised a brow as he returned to look at her. He pulled an arrow out of his quiver and asked. "You're not serious, are you?"

"As serious as my godfather's name."

"Huh." Will answered and he fired his arrow, just barely getting a bullseye. "Hm."

At seeing his shot, she smirked. "Wanna see something cool?"

"Another trick shot?"

"I've been thinking up ideas." Andi simply said as she drew her bowstring back once more, the arrow she made had a cone tip that spun with a light hum. Releasing the arrow, it flew with a whistle and just as it was about to hit the target, the cone fanned out into a large spinning disc that proceeded to grind out a large hole in the target.

"While cool, I don't see much of a point to that." Will gently told her.

Andi let her arm hang, her bow falling to her side. "What do you mean?"

"I mean how is that any better for armor piercing than the drill arrows you use? And when it comes to area of effect, one of your wind bombs?" Will explained. "You already have things which do the things this arrow does better."

"Hm, you might be right. It sounded good in my head, but I guess it fell short in practice." Andi said with a disappointed sigh. "I was trying to think up some variety here. Don't want to be a one trick pony."

The blond snorted a laugh. "I would hardly say that you have only one trick, Andi."

The petite girl shoved him playfully. "Look at you, making a girl blush and whatnot."

At her teasing, he looked a touch red, but still grinned down at her and gave a witty reply. "I try."

"I guess I should just try going for how many arrows I can fire and aim accurately at once." The daughter of Zeus nocked three arrows at that and aimed. "Maybe I can come up with a rain of arrows move or something."

"Just let people know when you're going for some widespread mayhem."

"I'll sound the alarm." Andi grinned at him.

* * *

The lesson had came to an end a lot faster than Andi would have liked, but it wasn't like time could stand still. As time marched on, the lunch hour quickly rolled around. Thalia ditched the table once again, a sign Andi guessed that she was probably going to be miffed at Ida for a long while. Hopefully she'd learn to eat at the table again at some point.

Andi didn't want to be alone with Ida forevermore.

Just like with breakfast, nymphs would zip by, offering Ida plates full of goodies. Even double dessert. Some even murmured they'd have passed her alcohol if they could, but with Mr. D's restrictions? That'd never happen.

Ida just smiled at them and thanked them for their kindness with that cool collected attitude of hers.

The child of Zeus couldn't help but admire that persona of the nymph's. It reminded her of just how plain she was compared to other people. Feeling dejected, she just poked at her baked potato with her fork.

"Don't play with your food, Andi." Ida chided her.

Andi sat up a little straighter. "Yes, ma'am." She said on reflex, and winced her eyes shut while ducking her head.

 _Damn, does she have to use that tone of voice? I feel like I'm back at the Dursleys._

Her eyes opened and she noticed Ida frowning with a look that was an odd mix of disappointment and concern.

"Call me Ida." She said, much like how she corrected her earlier, while offering her a small smile.

Andi's nerves relaxed a little as she consumed her food in a slightly mechanical fashion.

Deciding to end the silence between them, Andi asked the nymph a question. "So what was Dad like as a kid? Any crazy stories? I mean, there's gotta be."

Ida just gave her one of her trademark enigmatic smiles and said nothing.

Hunter came padding over, nestling against Ida and lavished in the ear scratching she gave him. "Still spoiled, isn't he?"

Hunter whined pitifully at that.

Andi laughed. "Big time, he's lucky he's cute!"

* * *

The daughter of Zeus headed for her shift at the Camp Store with Katie. While she worked, Ida had decided to take a seat in one of the chairs in the store, reading her book silently. Thankfully, none of her nymph friends had chosen to come and chat this time. The store would have gotten too crowded if they had.

As she restocked the snack shelf with Doridos, Katie whispered to Andi. "So, what's she like?"

"Hm?" Andi said as she was putting some XL camp shirts on the rack. "Ida?"

"Duh."

"Gods, ya such a gossip." Andi teased, making Katie pout at her.

"Spill!" Her friend said in a hushed whisper.

"She's my tutor. Compliments of my Dad...I think."

"Okay, what's she like? She's all quiet and reserved."

"I've known her a day." Andi dryly pointed out with a dull blink. "I know as much as you do and what's said about her in the books."

"Which is very little." Katie reminded her.

"Duh." Andi shot back as she folded up the cardboard box that Katie had just emptied and got it ready for disposal.

"Has she taught you anything yet?"

"No, she's 'observing' me today. Kinda weird having a shadow to be right frank." Andi knitted her brow as she headed behind the counter, tossing the cardboard in the recycling bin.

"She's still cool though." Katie told her.

"You fangirling?"

Katie flushed, glaring with her green eyes. "No, just saying it's nice to have such a strong female role model around."

 _Huh, never thought of it like that._ Andi tilted her head as she mulled over the statement.

"Hey! You guys get anymore chocolate?" One of the Stolls shouted as he came in.

"I'm not selling to you thieves anymore! Get out!" Katie snapped at the boy, the ferns stationed by the door knocking the son of Hermes right out the door. Even closing it.

"I'd have put cacti there." Andi chimed to her angry looking friend, leaning on the counter with a grin.

"I did, but Chiron took them away."

* * *

As Andi had her free time now -Probably her last free time- she could use it as she saw fit.

Which she chose to spend practicing her powers.

Ida was there, watching her intently, her book by her side now. Andi rather oddly, even in her own opinion, felt like she was putting on a particularly interesting show on the Discovery Channel for the nymph to watch.

Taking a calming breath, Andi called on the wind to coil around her in a gentle embrace. She slowly began to hover, making it past one foot off the ground. Nodding she went a little higher and just as she touched two feet, the daughter of the sky flinched and fell to her feet. She stumbled upon her landing and balled her fists.

"Bollocks!" She snapped, kicking the ground harshly, wind exploding from her foot and making a hole in the dirt. Taking another calming breath she muttered. "Okay, just do something else. _Anything_ else."

 _Okay, let's try setting up some traps. They worked good on those Death Suckers, but the timing was off._ Andi held out her hand, a good distance away, a lump of air appeared on the ground.

"Too bulky, way too visible." She stopped and dismissed the air mine. Stroking her chin she said. "I can't exactly hide them underground, but maybe I can make them look more translucent? It's air, so that can work. Alright! Take two."

As she continued her private practice, Andi got really into it as the ideas flew from her noggin. When she got into the flow of things, the child of Zeus could really pull out the stops as she tested little things about her powers to help upgrade her current skillset.

The half-blood tweaked the power, the visibility, and the blast radius of her mine until she felt it was satisfactory.

She did this until the dinner bell was heard echoing through the camp.

Wrinkling her nose, Andi said. "Time to wrap up I guess."

* * *

It was after dinner and Andi's day was coming to an end. There was only one last activity. The nightly singalong. As usual the Apollo kids led the thing by guiding the others through a number of songs. The campers enthusiastically singing along to the old favorites.

This time though there was something a little special. As before the usual songs, the nymphs - even a couple of the lake's naiads had come ashore for this - and the satyrs had decided to offer a song to honour Ida's arrival at camp.

"Crystals from the Mountain".

None of the Campers had ever heard it before, but they got caught up in the enthusiasm of the nature spirits and were soon singing along as best they could. Ida's formal welcome to Camp Half-Blood was thus a lively affair.

The guest of honor herself received the song with a pleasant smile and clapped along to the tune. After that one song though, she retreated to a corner - where she could still see Andi clearly - and took out her book and went back to reading.

Andi just shook her head at the sight. From the looks of it, her new nanny was even more bookish than Hermione and that was saying something.

The thought of her former friend brought a brief pang to Andi, but she quickly shook it off. There was no point crying over spilt milk. Besides she'd very likely doomed the other girl thanks to her deal with Hecate, so the least she could do was give her the space she wanted. Even if it killed her to give up on their friendship.

She was brought out of her musings by Clarisse jabbing her in the ribs. "Hey Potter, stop sulking."

"I wasn't sulking." Andi protested.

"Yes you were." Annabeth countered. "Now stop and come sit with us," the daughter of Zeus gestured to a spot where Andi's friends were all sitting together. "And enjoy the singalong."

With a smile Andi got up and followed her two friends over.

 _I guess now isn't the time to be thinking about Hogwarts._ The daughter of the sky lord mused as she sat down. _I wonder how they are doing nowadays though._

* * *

The Hogwarts Great Hall was once again hosting a great feast and as usual Ron Weasley was enjoying himself, though not as much as he normally would. For even while he was just as hyped up as the next person about the visiting schools and the Triwizard Tournament and thrilled about the great food, he was also troubled by how his best friend Andi Potter couldn't be there to enjoy it all with him.

 _Without Andi around things are a lot more peaceful._ The redhead thought to himself as he shoveled spoonfuls of mashed potatoes down his throat. _And boring._

He wasn't the only one to think that either. He knew from talking to his brothers Fred and George that they felt the same. Then there was the Luna girl from Ravenclaw that Andi had befriended last year too. Unfortunately, they seemed to be the minority on that front. Even Hermione, Andi's other best friend seemed to prefer the fact that she was gone.

 _Then again Hermione and Andi weren't exactly getting along for awhile now. Not since Andi told us she was a demigod._

And how cool was that? His best friend was a bona fide child of a god -The King of the Gods even!-, with all the cool powers and monster slaying that being such entailed. For some reason that Ron couldn't fathom, Hermione couldn't see that.

 _And she calls herself smart._ Ron mentally scoffed even as he reached for a plate of brisket.

Despite his tone however the youngest Weasley son was worried for his bookish friend. He would have thought that since her problem was with Andi that with the daughter of Zeus gone, she'd have tried to mend things with him. To at least have one friend, you know? Instead, she'd become more and more of a reclusive loner.

He'd even heard from her dormmates that she's turned even more cold and standoffish than ever before. Heck, according to them she built literal walls of books around her area in the dorm to ward them off. What she was doing was so worrying that despite their own dislike for Hermione at times, the other girls were getting genuinely concerned. Even Lavender Brown who was on notoriously bad terms with Hermione because of their clashing personalities was talking about speaking to McGonagall about it.

Though even if he'd lost Hermione as a friend - _Merlin, I hope not._ \- he was glad that he could still hang out with the guys in his dorm, so at least he wasn't lonely.

 _Still wish Andi was here though. She was always the best fun to spend time with._

Sighing at the prospect of life at Hogwarts without his best mate for however long it took the silly murder charge against her to disappear - He was sure it would. The Headmaster would make sure of that. - and Andi to come back, he decided to drown his sorrows in another serving of the delicious seafood chowder.

 _Nobody thinks the charges are anything but nonsense._

"Glad Potter isn't here." A girl's voice from the Hufflepuff table reached Ron's ear.

"Yeah, wouldn't want her to murder the other competitors would we?" The first speaker's friend replied before the two girls burst into giggles.

 _Ok, so maybe some people are taking it seriously. But that's only the Slytherins, other Dark families, and most of the pro-Ministry people._

As he listed the groups supporting the charge against Andi, an uncomfortable realization began to grow. One that set his stomach churning uncomfortably. Pushing his bowl of soup away, he shook his head uneasily.

 _That can't be right. Most people can't think she's really a murderer. Can they?_

Unwilling to answer that question, even to himself, Ron decided it was time to think about something else.

Thankfully, this year there was a ready made distraction.

The Triwizard Tournament.

It was the talk of the school after all, and at the forefront of everyone's minds.

 _Merlin, if only I could compete._ Ron griped mentally as he reached past his forgotten soup and grabbed a leg of lamb. _But even I'm not stupid enough to risk my life in a dangerous tournament meant for those 17 or older. And even if I was, I'd never have got past Dumbledore's Age Line anyway._

He was just finishing the lamb when the tables cleared of food. Groaning at his interrupted meal, he nevertheless dutifully followed the rest of the Hall's occupants - staff and students from Hogwarts, as well as the other two schools competing in the Tournament: Beauxbatons and Durmstrang - in facing the Staff Table as the ceremony to select the Champions for the Tournament began.

Ron barely paid it any mind, he didn't really care how the Champions got picked. He just wanted to see them compete. So besides a moment of surprise when the impartial judge that chose the Champions was a flaming cup of all things, Ron just tuned things out.

 _Not that any of the Champions that do get picked would do better than Andi if she was here._ The Weasley mused. _I mean she's a bleedin' demigod. I bet that if she_ was _here, she'd paste this tournament._

Suddenly Ron heard the sound of cackling in his ears. Jumping up in his seat he looked around, but he saw nothing that could have been the source of the noise.

 _That was weird. Where did that come from?_ The young wizard thought as he continued looking around. _It almost sounded like a bunch of old biddies._

He was so distracted he barely registered the three Champions being picked, even when that hottie Fleur Delacour got selected. He was eventually pulled away from his frantic search however by a gasp from the crowd. _Huh?_

Turning to see what was going on, he saw the Headmaster bend down to pick up what looked like a charred strip of paper.

"Hey! I thought all three Champions were picked already." Ron asked his neighbor.

"Yeah, they were." Neville Longbottom replied nervously. "Then the Goblet spit out a fourth name."

"Is that supposed to happen? Like for a reserve or second or something?" Ron suggested, even as he started to get a bad feeling about this.

"No," Hermione said in a fearful whisper. "No, it shouldn't."

Any further discussion was cut short, when a spooked looking Headmaster read the unexpected name that the Goblet had picked.

"Andromeda Potter."

"...Aw shite." Ron said as he palmed his face, even as the Hall exploded into chaos.

 _I jinxed her didn't I? Merlin, she's gonna hate it when she hears about it. And when she hears what I did-_

"...She's gonna hang me by my bits."

* * *

 **And boosh! Chapter eight is done and we got to see the conclusion of the World Cup! Thanks to Nameless and Axios as usual.**

 **IMPORTANT NOTE:Now you guys know we usually have a buffer for our fics, like about five chapters ahead and such. Sadly, with Nameless' and my own work schedule, as well as our own personal schooling, our buffer had been depleted rather quickly. So this is the last Andi chapter for a bit until we get our buffer back up. So please bare with us guys. All our love to our understanding and kind fans. Now, on to the rest of the AN!  
**

 **Yes, Lucy is dead, thank the flying spaghetti monster. Always hated that dick. Huh, that's two of my fics that the wanker is dead. First Alkaid, and now Andi...Eyes on you now Rhode…**

 **Do it my child.**

 **Anyway! Yes, Thalia freaked out, because frankly she felt vindicated. This was another reason why she shouldn't get close to Andi. But she didn't want that, not really. Hence, her kinda unhinged reaction. She was very off balance and conflicted. But shit like this happens.**

 **As for her reaction to Luke, yes, she's still holding out some hope for him because she's stubborn like that.**

 **Percy snapping? Well, it was originally going to be Andi, but we thought that would make her too psychopathic if she pushed the feeling of killing someone back just to vent on her sister. So, yeah, Percy went ape shit and we get to see that scary sea side of him again. Annie of course is indecisive as usual over the whole Team Luke bit. At least until BOTL.**

 **Nameless: Yeah, so the British wizards come across as unreasonable here don't they? Well, because they kinda are. That said, we've tried to also show that there is logic to what they are doing, even if most people don't agree with it. Mainly the issue is with the extenuating circumstances. I would like to make clear though that it's not that they don't take it into consideration, it's that even with those taken into account the lightest sentence would still include a stint in Azakaban. We've seen them issue that sentence for less, so it makes senses that as part of a deterrent against magical violence at least a short term there would be included as part of even the minimum sentence. Everyone else, of course, thinks this is barbaric and is doing everything in their power to make sure Andi avoids this fate.**

 **Also, not going back to Hogwarts? Oh no! Seriously, did you think she was going to go back after this little mess? Not a chance guys, Andi's out and bounced, but what's this?! Her name still pulled out the sippy cup of glory? Yeah, you'll see how that works out. Gonna be interesting.**

 **Nameless: As for our decision to have the Rowling!verse MACUSA be replaced with a Department of Magic… Yeah, we just think Rowling goofed when she created the MACUSA. There's no way a mundane government would let the MACUSA exist after what it gets up to. They might not have a choice in the Rowling!verse where, very unrealistically, the mundanes have no defenses against magic or wizards willing to work for them. However, in a fusion verse where many mundane leaders are actually demigods? It's a sure bet that the gods will side with their kids against the uppity wizards. So yeah, the MACUSA got destroyed and replaced.**

 **Yeah, personally, I felt greatly annoyed by this. I even had a few unkind words about Rowling, but I'm too much a gentleman to say them. At least to you guys. Just know that Rowling is a touch too Eurocentric towards all the other nations. Why? Simple! 'Cos according to her everyone uses a wand, even the Eastern cultures. Because talismans and other magical foci don't seem to exist!**

 **Nameless: Yeah, don't even get me started on them. Really? Wizards are the only type of magic users? Really? Get off your high horse Rowling!**

 **Now Ida!** **This has been a pet idea of mine since forever! Originally she was going to look like Glynda Goodwitch from RWBY, but I think I do too many homages from that show. So I decided to pull Rider from FSN, I mean, she's Greek, so why not? And she's got that stern caretaker vibe too, but less fetishy like Glynda.**

 **Nameless: Ahem. I do believe the original suggestion for a change was mine.**

 **Oh course, and you get cred for the visual aesthetics for the character.**

 **Now grab your mounts and joust that review button! No flames and peace out my peeps!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.**

 **The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans**

 **Chapter Nine: My Posse Crashes a Tournament!**

 **Beta: ShadowofAxios**

* * *

Andi shot her surroundings a glare. The familiar furniture of her apartment inside her magical wardrobe that usually gave her a deep sense of home currently left her with nothing but frustration. It was no surprise, after all she'd been stuck there with nothing but her books and other texts, both various modern ones meant for her mundane subjects and archaic sources for her magical studies.

All without any contact with her friends, not even Hunter. The only person she'd regularly seen the past two weeks had been Ida when she came to conduct Andi's lessons.

Tossing her arms in the air, Andi gave voice to her frustration. "I'm going bonkers in here!"

Flopping onto her pillow, the daughter of Zeus sulked.

All of this was Ida's fault.

When they first started their lessons, it seemed to take off alright.

Andi's academics were terrible. Improving, but still terrible. It was a tough pill to swallow to learn how far behind she was in terms of her regular schooling as compared to her peers. Hogwarts had left her right screwed on that front. Thanks to its total lack of mundane subjects, she was barely at the level of a sixth grader. Or two years behind where she should be, and that was after two months of intense catching up.

Ida seemed pleased by her progress though, even informing Andi that she really should not expect any miracles. Like Athena suddenly bestowing on her some Brainy Bethy intelligence. While ever the optimist, even Andi wasn't that deluded.

It was going to take her a while to catch up, but at least she was on her way to finally being up to snuff on where she should be in terms of her schoolwork.

Magic was another cup of tea, though.

Her studies in the arcane were doing fairly okay, but nothing great at the moment. Ida was heavy-handedly reviewing the basics with Andi. Which to the young girl was dreadfully boring. There was no flair, no razzle dazzle, just stuff that was as dull as a rock.

Even with how they bored her out of her gourd, she was making moderate headway. Well, mostly anyway. Sure the halfblood would learn the stuff that Ida was trying to teach her, but it was in one ear and out the other with most of it. After Ida was done testing her on whatever little unimportant bit of magical trivia that explained some magical rule or whatever, Andi would just toss the knowledge in some dark corner of her mind to be forgotten. There was no point to that crap, so why put in any effort to properly memorize it?

However, when it came to a topic she found interesting, Andi tackled the subject with frightening ferocity.

Andi thought this would have impressed Ida, but she was just disappointed. In fact, she went on to say that the daughter of Zeus should have used that kind of attitude when it came to all of her studies. By failing to do so, according to the nymph at least, she was wasting her potential.

 _Bullshite! Who do I look like? A child of Athena?_ Andi sarcastically thought to herself as she glared at the stacks of books she'd been assigned to read for her lessons, hoping that they would catch fire and spare her from hours of pointless studying.

Thanks to Ida's reaction to Andi's efforts, the daughter of Zeus came to the _amazing_ conclusion that nothing pleased the mountain nymph! In fact, Andi had given up doing so. She was honestly just going through the motions. If this was how her teacher was going to respond to her when she was enthusiastic, then why put any effort in at all?

 _Some teacher she is. She's even managed to kill my interest in stuff I used to like._ Andi grumbled to herself as she scanned the towering pile of assigned readings, in the process spotting the thick book on proper etiquette.

It brought to mind her 'etiquette lessons', or in her opinion utter wastes of her time.

 _And they were! Why do I even need to learn to polite to a bunch of assholes!_

It was this thinking that had led the blue eyed girl to ditching most of these lessons on principle.

Though the extra chores she got in exchange didn't improve her opinion on the lessons either.

After a couple of weeks of her ditching class only to get punished with chores, which Andi responded to by ditching more classes. Ida finally had enough. So she arranged for Andi to be grounded in her room for a single day. Which was extended to three after she tried to sneak out.

 _Like hell I was going let some stupid punishment stop me from hanging out with my friends._ Andi self-righteously declared as she stood up and paced the room in anger. _That's just torture!_

So of course, she'd carried out more 'infractions' - _Which they weren't!_ \- like trying to communicate with her friends without permission, trying to coax Hunter inside her apartment, and sneaking out again - _To, you know, get some fresh air!_ \- , and etc. As a result, her punishment ended up getting extended to a whopping two weeks.

And so explains her house arrest!

The demigod had tried to complain to her dad, but using his most powerful parental skill, he just ignored her.

Ida seemed to have known about her attempt to go behind her back though. The next day she'd shown up with a disappointed look and told her that her dad had informed her about it and actually suggested extending Andi's punishment for it. She'd even tried to make herself seem generous by saying she'd overlook it this time. Too bad she spoiled it by adding that she wouldn't the next time.

"Generous, my foot! You're just a cruel bitch! And a bloody liar too!" Andi shouted in the direction of the door, and wherever the nymph was outside.

Zeus might have been an absentee father, but Andi was sure that he wouldn't have agreed with her unfair punishment.

 _Right?_

Uncertainty gripped Andi as she realized she didn't know her dad well enough to actually be sure of that.

Trying to smother the unease this line of thought had fostered, Andi jumped back onto her bed and hugged her pillow tightly. It wasn't working very well. This place was supposed to be her home, but after all that's happened it felt like she was holded up in another closet. Albeit with much more space, but the sentiment remained.

The worst part? As far as she knew, _everyone_ agreed that she deserved this. Even Chiron the one time he visited.

 **~Flashback~**

It was a week into Andi's house arrest - it had become a lot more than a simple grounding a _long_ time ago - when she received a welcome visitor. Chiron in all his centauroid majesty had squeezed his way into her magical wardrobe to speak to her.

At the sight of him, part of Andi idly wondered how Chiron's centaur body could even fit into the wardrobe. Mostly though, she was filled with a sense of hope.

"Please tell me you're bailing me out of here?" Andi asked the moment she saw him.

"Hello to you as well, Andi."

The daugther of Zeus flushed. "Sorry. Hi Chiron. It's just, I'm going crazy!"

She made a noise of agony while curling up on her couch.

"I'm sure." Chiron agreed, though the sarcasm was clear even under the smooth voice he always used. Clopping towards the couch, he explained the reason for his visit. "While I did come to visit you, I also have a message from Lady Hecate."

That got Andi's attention and she sat up straight to look at Chiron warily. "I have a feeling of foreboding."

Nodding approvingly, though if it was at her taking it seriously or her words Andi didn't know, the immortal continued, "She says, in her words: 'Learn some discipline and start taking your lessons seriously, my Champion.'"

"...That doesn't help me. At all." Andi grumpily noted as she shifted into an ungainly position, her body upside down as her head hung off the seat.

She glanced to see a disapproving look on Chiron's face as he moved to sit on the side of the couch, folding his horse legs in the process. "Andi, she is still your matron."

Andi snorted, dispassion written all over her face. "After the Empousai/Griverious attack, she really doesn't have much right to tell me anything."

Chiron sighed at this. Rubbing his face tiredly, he tried to reason with her. "Andromeda, immortals take slights like this seriously."

Andi just ignored his words as blood rushed to her head, she hadn't been in a very charitable mood as of late. Not hard to figure out why.

"Well, if you want me to take her seriously then how about getting me out of here?" Andi demanded seriously, jumping up from her seat to glare angrily at Chiron as she did.

Chiron just shot her a stern look of disapproval. Wilting under the look from her trusted mentor, Andi tried a different tack.

"Come on, Chiron. Pretty please?" She pleaded with her best imitation of a puppy. "I haven't even gotten to exercise! You know, something all good little demigoddesses need."

His face relaxed at that, even turned a mite sympathetic, but he nevertheless shook his head. "I cannot."

"But you're the activities director! You've got more seniority than my twisted Mary Poppins."

"She is your acting guardian, I am not." The ancient trainer pointed out.

Andi whined at this as she pouted.

"And while I do disagree with the severity of this punishment, I do agree with her reasons."

Andi felt crushed by this as she sunk to the floor near him. She respected Chiron like crazy, he was the only good teacher she'd ever had. To hear him say that she was in the wrong struck her hard.

He left soon after saying he would try to talk to Ida - "Perhaps get her to change her punishment."- but promised nothing.

Andi didn't really hear him, she was still jarred by his words and sat on the floor in misery as he departed.

 **~Flashback End~**

Hugging her pillows more tightly, Andi sighed.

"Maybe Chiron's right."

As loathe as Andi was to admit it, she trusted the Trainer of Heroes' judgement. If he thought she was in the wrong, then there was probably some truth to it.

"Maybe I'm just too angry to see it?" Andi asked her pillow, who of course didn't reply.

For a long moment, the daughter of Zeus reflected on her actions before coming to a sad conclusion. "Yeah, I-I think I was."

Andi glanced at the books near her with a soft look. She reached for one poking out and plopped it in front of her. Flipping it open, she quietly began to read.

She managed to get one solid minute of quiet studying before being interrupted.

Ida, Chiron, and Hecate of all people entered the room.

"...Hullo?" Andi greeted the bizarre trio.

Just as Chiron was about to speak, Hecate spoke first.

"I cannot believe you forgot about the Horcrux in Black's house." The goddess berated Andi, making the girl's mood sour in an instant.

She _really_ buggered herself with that deal. Damn the goddess for getting her while she was down.

"Relax, Hecate." Andi reassured while sitting straight, her hands up in a placating manner. "I'll do it the next time that I get the chance, alright?"

Hecate shot her a chilling look that frankly sent a terrified shiver down her spine. "That you have further opportunities to deal with it is the only reason why I have not turned you into a rabbit."

"Lady Hecate," Ida cut in firmly but respectfully. "Perhaps it would be best for us to proceed to the _main_ reason why we are here today?"

The goddess looked disgruntled that she could not berate Andi longer, but nevertheless agreed with a wave of her hand.

"Thank you, Lady Hecate." Chiron offered as he took a step forward to look Andi squarely in the eyes. "Andi, we come bearing news."

Andi suddenly felt her stomach dropping like a stone. _If Hecate is here then it's gotta do with magic… It's gotta be about Hogwarts. But what? Does it have to do with Ron? Hermione?_

"There is a tournament going at Hogwarts." Ida continued with a stony look on her face. "It's called the Triwizard Tournament and you have been entered into it against your will."

"You've got to be kidding me." Andi pinched the bridge of her nose. "So what though? I mean, I can just not participate right?"

"Not if you want to keep your magic." Hecate informed her ominously, her eyes flashing warningly. "That is the price you will pay if you forfeit."

"I take it you don't like that." Andi asked the goddess, worriedly. She was not liking where this was going. At all. "What's the big deal, though? You're the goddess of magic, you can just make sure it doesn't happen or something."

"And why should I offer you such a boon, Andromeda?" The goddess retorted, fire literally in her eyes. "You have done nothing to earn it."

Andi glared at Hecate, she wasn't in the mood for some wizard olympics. "How am I supposed to do your quest if I have to play magical water polo in some competition?"

"The two are not mutually exclusive." The goddess said dismissively. "Besides the specifics of how you carry out my quest is none of my concern. All I am interested in are the results."

"Ominous." Andi breathed out, fiddling with her fingers to try and calm her nerves. "But I still don't see how this is going to work, I mean I'm still a fugitive back in Britain aren't I?"

The goddess' flaming eyes narrowed into a flinty look. "As I said, the specifics of a quest are none of my concern."

Both Ida and Chiron exchanged worried looks, before the centaur stepped in to try to calm the situation. "Lady Hecate, perhaps it would be best if Ida and I handled this from here?"

"No." The goddess said firmly, shooting Chiron a furious look. "I have wasted enough time on this. I want a resolution now." Turning to Andi, she offered an ultimatum. "I will not have a Champion without magic, Andromeda. So I will offer you a choice. Either you go and preserve your magic, or I kill you now and you ascend to your role as my Champion with your magic intact."

Andi was flatout stunned by this. "What kind of choice is that?"

"One that is heavily skewed, but which still perfectly fits within Lady Hecate's domain of crossroads." Ida observed coolly. "How convenient."

Wow, another example of gods being more of a brat than Andi was. Can't get what you want? Kill it! Someone sneezes wrong? Kill 'em!

"Crossroads are rarely between two equal choices." The goddess said dismissively. "Now, Andromeda, choose!"

"Alright, I give!" The demigod declared, disgruntled over Hecate abusing her authority. She wasn't even her servant yet but she was already threatening her to do what she wanted. Whoopdifuckin'doo! Looks like free will was forever a foreign concept for the young girl now.

Hecate seemed satisfied by this as she began to glow with a bright light that filled the room.

Andi hastily closed her eyes as she remembered Ares doing the same. The goddess was about to assume her true form and if Andi looked, she would be burned alive.

In an instant, the flash of powerful light was gone, leaving just Andi, Ida, and Chiron in the apartment.

"She's still angry with you." The centaur pointed out. "She likely sees your entire attitude towards her today as a slight."

"I figured, what with her flashing her true form and all." The aerokinetic demigod quipped dryly.

"You will need to be careful Andi," Ida warned. "Lady Hecate will not take this slight lightly. She will punish you for this at some point."

Her stomach felt like it was doing flips with how nervous she was. Sparing them a panicked look, Andi realized how not listening to her teachers had gotten her into deep trouble. From Chiron's warning, to her lack of attention towards Ida's lessons, all of it had left her feeling like she wasn't prepared for this.

If she had listened to Chiron she wouldn't have pissed her matron off that badly and not paying attention in her lessons definitely didn't help things either. The goddess obviously took great stock in magic, so to not take her magical education seriously must have angered her even more.

 _Bugger all, I really screwed up._ Andi just slumped on her bed.

"To be fair, Andi," Chiron said soothingly. "I did warn you that you needed to take things more seriously. Particularly about your role as Hecate's Champion."

"I know!" Andi bemoaned. "I'm a fuck up, I continue to do so! All I know how to do is mess up."

"That is not true." Ida cut off her self loathing rant firmly.

All the nymph got was a dubious blue eyed stare. "You've seen my progress, it's abysmal."

"If that's what you think, which I do not agree with, then all you really need to do is work harder from now onwards." Chiron added his own two cents.

"You two'll help me, won't you?" Andi pleaded with just a hint of desperation.

"Of course." "It's why I'm here."

Reassured, the child of Zeus gave off a shaky breath. "Okay, time to hit the books. For real this time."

* * *

"Andi, you in there?" Annabeth called out as she knocked on Cabin One's door.

The daughter of Athena had returned to Camp over the weekend after spending the week at school in New York City, only to find that her friend's grounding had _finally_ been lifted but that she was still holed up in her Cabin and refused to come out. Worried, Annabeth had decided to pay a visit to check what was up with the witch.

The door to the stately Cabin swung open, however it was not who Annabeth had expected that greeted her.

"Greetings, Miss Chase." Ida, Andi's nanny, greeted with that polite sternness that seemed to be her default personality.

A happy bark had Ida looking down with a smile at Hunter who had accompanied the nymph to welcome her.

"Hello Ida, Hunter." Annabeth greeted while giving the dog a scratch behind his ears. "Andi in? I wanted to visit her."

"Andi is studying at the moment." The nanny explained as she pushed the door open wider and gestured for the daughter of Athena to enter. "Though I do believe it is time for her to take a break."

Annabeth nodded with a smile. She got the hint. Ida wanted her to convince Andi to have a breather.

Following behind the immortal, Annabeth stepped into Andi's apartment and was greeted by a sight that left her with a bewildering sense of familiarity. The daughter of Athena found her friend surrounded by stacks of books and ancient texts, a situation that she and her siblings had found themselves in many, many times before. She was even murmuring in Ancient Greek - and Latin, which was different - and furiously scribbling in a notebook just like a child of wisdom in research mode was prone to doing.

"Andi?" The bemused blonde called out after a moment of taking in the scene.

"Let's see, so to create a levitation effect the magic must be shaped like this. So this is why all those spells are so simi-"

 _And she's ignoring me just like my siblings would in a situation like this too._

"Andi!" Annabeth raised her voice, sporting a long suffering smile as she did.

Her shout finally snapped the smaller girl out of her own little world and she turned her blue eyes to face the daughter of wisdom.

 _I knew it would work. It does the job in my cabin all the time._

"Bethy?" A surprised Andi asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to visit you." Annabeth explained with a smile.

Andi looked around at the mess that was her room. "Oh! Um, sorry about the mess. I was studying."

"I could see that." Annabeth flashed her a teasing smile. It was nice to see how diligent Andi could be when she made the effort to be.

The daughter of Zeus flushed a little at the teasing. Looking around, the magically gifted girl asked. "Where's Thalia?"

Like Annabeth, Thalia was attending school in the city. In fact, thanks to Chiron the two girls were going to the same boarding school. This even though the older daughter of Zeus was terribly behind in her schoolwork.

 _No surprise there. Years as a runaway and a tree adds up._

The centaur had even managed to arrange for the two old friends to be roommates, despite their age difference.

 _Which is for the best. If I wasn't there to help Thalia with her studies and to keep her in line… Well, expulsion would be the least of her worries._

The blonde's smile strained a touch and she replied. "She's stuck in weekend detention."

Again.

Andi looked disappointed but gave an unsurprised nod.

She knew full well the trouble her sister was getting into in school. Though both girls knew, and was loathe to admit, that even if Thalia had been free, she wouldn't have come back to Camp anyway. The older daughter of the skies was quite happy to be as far away from Andi as she could be.

"I know you just dropped by for a quick visit, Bethy, but can I catch up with you later? I really have a lot of studying to do." Andi pleaded.

"Actually, Andi, I think it's time that you took a break." Ida instructed her charge, Hunter barking in agreement as he padded over to the girl's side.

"But I've still got so much to read." Andi insisted, even as she looked down at Hunter and scratched around his neck. "Sorry for ignoring you, boy. We'll play fetch later?"

Hunter barked happily at the offer, his tail wagging in excitement.

A hoot came from the corner of the room where Hedwig was perched.

Andi flinched. "Sorry girl, I've neglected you too, huh? I'll let you out to go hunting soon."

The owl gave a unsatisfied hoot.

"And I'll get you some bacon later?" The witch offered.

The owl chirped in agreement, which caused Andi to heave a sigh of relief.

Annabeth used her hand to cover her smile. It was funny to see how much pull the girl's own pets had over her.

"I do believe it's not just your pets that you have been neglecting Andi." Ida informed her charge chidingly. "Since your punishment was lifted have you even visited your friends once?"

"I thought you were all for me studying." Andi mumbled, looking at her bare toes.

"There is a time and place for everything, Andi." The nymph said with a sigh. "Plus everything must be done in moderation."

The daughter of Zeus grumbled about something under her breath, but Ida heard her nonetheless.

"Watch your language, young lady." The nymph said sternly, before her tone softened. "I understand your frustration, but if you had bothered to listen to me when I gave you instructions about your studies. Actually listen and not just do so halfheartedly, then you would know that I have always told you to take things one step at a time and in moderation. I wouldn't have scheduled breaks for you at all if I didn't."

Annabeth shifted awkwardly as Ida scolded her student. She could relate with what the nanny was saying, she'd taught Andi lessons for a time too and she knew how annoying her friend could be when she refused to listen to instructions properly and just did whatever she wanted. Then again, Andi wasn't the only one who did that. Percy and at least half of the others did the same.

 _I guess dealing with it is part of being a teacher._

Unaware and likely unconcerned with the daughter of Athena's thoughts, the mountain nymph continued. "But that is something for us to discuss another time. For now, just go enjoy some time with your friend. Your studies can wait for now."

"You're sure?"

"I am." Ida said with a nod. "Taking a break to clear your head will do you good."

Hesitantly, Andi nodded and turned to Annabeth.

"Up for a walk, Bethy? If I'm taking a break, I want to stretch my legs."

"Sure." The daughter of Athena agreed easily.

* * *

A couple minutes later found the two girls strolling along one of the many trails in Camp.

"So Andi, what's got you so worked up about your studies all of a sudden?" Annabeth asked, sounding concerned. "I mean, your punishment got lifted but you still refused to come out of your Cabin? You had us all worried."

"Us?" Andi asked confusedly.

"Will and Silena are still in Camp. They knew something was up, and they told the rest of your friends about it. It's one of the reasons I'm visiting this weekend. I wanted to check up on what was going on with you."

Andi's faced paled and she looked incredibly guilty.

"I worried everyone, huh?"

The blonde nodded. "Yup. So what gives? Why the sudden interest in your studies?"

"Proper motivation, one could say." Andi stated with a resigned sigh.

"And said motivation is?"

Andi flashed her a pained smile. "You know, typical magical world shite. I got hooked into some deadly tournament. Oh! And I'm forced to participate if I want to keep my magic of course."

"Explain!" Annabeth demanded sternly.

Andi did just that, explaining to her friend all about how somehow without her consent she'd been made a participant in some magical death game, how she hadn't wanted to participate even if refusing to do so would have cost her her magic and how that had pissed Hecate off so badly that she'd forced Andi to take part on pain of death.

Annabeth groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "This is why you don't make pacts with gods without thinking things through very, very carefully."

"Like I was even given a choice." Andi snorted, kicking some dirt along the trail. "You try telling a god 'no' to their face. I like my molecules where they are."

Annabeth just shook her head. "Sometimes death might just be the better option, Andi."

"Well when something like this happens to you, let me know how it goes."

"I will." The daughter of Athena said with a glare, before taking a deep breathe and continuing. "That said, Andi, you need to be prepared for Hecate treating you like this more often. This is what you signed up for."

The daughter of Zeus gave her a tired look. "Don't remind me. I seriously don't need it."

"I know." Annabeth acknowledged. "Just remember it for next time. If there is a next time, which I pray there isn't."

"Gotcha." Andi said tiredly. She'd heard enough about her poor judgement about her pact with Hecate already and was in no mood for yet another lecture.

Desperate to avoid that, she changed the subject.

"So Bethy, how's school?"

The blonde raised a brow at the transparent attempt but let it slide and launched into a tale about her school life in the city. Andi listening on intently as she did.

* * *

At dinner the day before she was to return to Hogwarts, Andi was seated at Table One halfheartedly consuming the pizza on her plate. Her nerves were too on edge over what was to come though for her to enjoy the meal.

The idea of going back into Ministry territory had her thinking all kinds of terrible thoughts.

 _Am I going to be in shackles the second I set foot there? Are they going to ship me off to Azkaban without even a trial like Sirius?_ She fearfully pondered as she chewed her food. _Can I even live through this tournament?_

It didn't help that Ida wasn't around to shoo these worries away. She had left earlier that morning, on what she claimed was "important business."

She looked down at the pizza crust in her hand and grunted. Opting to finish her meal, she failed to notice someone behind her. It was not until he poked her in the shoulder that Andi twisted around to see Will.

A fact that filled her with embarrassment as she'd spun around so quickly that she still had a slice of pizza hanging from her mouth. Acting as nonchalant as she could, she finished taking the bite, chewed, and swallowed as fast as she could.

"Hey, Will. What's up?" She said trying and epically failing to sound casual.

He didn't seem to notice though, as he flashed her that boyish smile of his "Just worried about you. I heard what's going on."

Her face heated up. "Yeah, but you know. Life as a half-blood and all that. Sorry about ignoring you guys. I've just got a lot to prepare for."

The son of Apollo held up his hands. "I get it. You coming to the singalong tonight?"

"I gotta do a last minute cram session. Sorry." Andi looked apologetic. She'd love to spend some time with her friends at camp, but she had to get that final review in.

Will shrugged. "If it's what you gotta do, I won't stop you. Walk you back to your cabin?"

Taking him up at his offer, Andi got up from her seat. "Sure!"

As the two departed from the Pavilion, some of the campers hooted and whistled at them, while others shouted rude remarks at them. The only ones who acted with even a hint of maturity were the few older campers who either didn't even bother to respond or shook their heads in amusement at the other campers' antics.

Andi felt upset at this, she really didn't need this. Not now. So to avoid further teasing, she made it a point to keep at least an arm's length from Will as they walked along.

That didn't make the situation any less awkward though.

"What do you think you're going up against?" The medic asked her after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.

Shrugging, Andi replied. "I don't know. I've got to be ready for anything I suppose."

"You've had a few months of practice at that here I think." Will told her encouragingly.

"Yeah, but...magicals do stupid stuff, so I don't know." Andi shook her head in frustration. "If the Tournament is anything like what I've looked up, my main objective will just be to stay alive."

"Which after two big quests, you're a pro at." Will offered confidently.

"I guess." Andi replied uncertainly. "I'm still worried though."

"That's natural. Just don't worry too much." The son of Apollo advised. "Otherwise, it'll just make things worse."

"Good advice. Thanks Will."

"No problem."

By this point, they were almost to Cabin One and were greeted by the sight of a familiar figure materializing in front of the cabin.

"Andi, good timing, I have something important to tell you." Ida said as she walked towards the two half-bloods.

"Ida?" Andi's eyes looked wide. "Did you just get back?"

Her nanny nodded. "Yes, and I really do have important _personal_ things to discuss with you." Turning to Will, the nymph continued. "As such, Mister Solace, I must ask you to leave."

Will looked disappointed at that, but agreed. "Sure. See you later, Andi."

"See you, Will."

Andi watched Will go for a moment before Ida cleared her throat. Blushing a little, Andi faced her guardian, who for some reason was smiling at her with an odd gleam in her eyes.

"Apologies for interrupting your _date_ , Andi." The nymph said teasingly, not that Andi noticed.

The daughter of Zeus was too busy sputtering denials to have noticed her nanny's uncharacteristic tone.

"Date? That wasn't a date! Will was just walking me back to my Cabin. That's all, Gods!"

"If you say so." Ida replied with a knowing smile.

"Ida~!" The daughter of Zeus whined.

The mountain nymph just giggled at her charge's expense for a moment before recomposing herself.

"Seriously though, Andi, I do have something I need to talk to you about." The nymph said as she opened the door to Cabin One. "So why don't you go wash up and I'll set out some tea and we can talk."

 _Tea? Ida is bringing out the tea? This is gotta be serious. The last time she did that was when she grounded me._ Andi thought to herself nervously, even as she did as she was told and headed off to get herself cleaned up.

* * *

Ida frankly made the best tea the British girl ever had. It was so good that it made her melt inside all while inducing a feeling of calm. Too bad, the nymph tended to get all serious when it came to tea time. That really put a damper on the experience. The tea was still heavenly though.

"So you might have been wondering where I have been all day?" Ida asked as she poured Andi a cup of tea.

"Sorta kinda." Andi said as she reached for a scone. "I was really just nervous about everything that's going on."

As she took a bite of the awesomesauce bread, Ida began to explain.

"I was in London." Andi's head shot up and she levelled a wide eyed look at her nanny at that revelation. "I was speaking with my sister, Adrasteia, about your legal case."

Swallowing, Andi wiped her lip. "You mean the one where they the wizards were being idiots about me accidentally killing Malfoy Senior?"

Ida shot Andi a chiding look, clearly expressing her displeasure about Andi's attitude towards possibly breaking the law. "Yes, _that_ case. It's been settled. You have been cleared. Thanks in no small part due to help from Dumbledore."

"Wait, wait, wait! Professor Dumbledore did what?" Blue eyes blinked rapidly in surprise. "But he's the super pacifist guy."

She honestly thought he'd want to keep the Girl-Who-Lived a good country's length away from him after this whole mess. She was poisoned goods after all, why would he want to undermine his reputation by associating with a killer like her.

"We were surprised by his decision to help us as well. You should thank him when you see him at Hogwarts." Ida commented as she took a sip of tea. Smiling in satisfaction at her brew, she continued. "We did not expect him to throw his political clout around to not only fast track the trial but for it to proceed with you in absentia, so that everything could be resolved as quickly as possible."

"That means I don't have to worry about getting arrested the second I step in Ministry territory!" Andi smiled brightly at this and Ida nodded.

"Precisely. Besides ensuring your trial was pushed forward as quickly as possible, he was also the one who informed Adrasteia of the little loophole about accidental magic that we used to have the case against you dismissed." The nymph added while stirring her tea. "He pointed out to us how the Wizarding World would rather believe the lie that you used accidental magic than accept you performed wandless magic."

"That was how I was cleared?" Andi's mind boggled at that. It just seemed so stupid. "Is this what it feels like when Dad uses loopholes?"

Ida made a noise of acknowledgement, but said no more on the topic.

They both could hear the rumbling of the mosaic ceiling, showing said god's displeasure.

"Was there anything else?" Andi asked after both women took a moment to smile at the god king's displeasure. Goading him into a reaction, especially when pointing out his faults, was oddly satisfying.

"Not beyond discussing some arrangements for our stay at Hogwarts that I made with Dumbledore for the Tournament, but those can wait till later."

Andi perked up at that and eagerly voiced her question. "So can Hunter come along?"

"Unfortunately, no." Ida said with a sympathetic shake of her head. "Not when Hedwig is your registered pet. It's the school's policy that only one pet is allowed."

Andi pouted but nodded. So it was either she brought Hedwig or Hunter. In that case, even if she hated it, she'd have to take Hedwig. As much as she loved Hunter, the ability to deliver letters to wizards like Sirius - who couldn't use IMs - via Hedwig was just too useful to give up.

"Now, you best get to bed early since we have to be up early tomorrow." her nanny instructed her. "You need your rest."

Andi wondered if she could even fall asleep with how hyped up she was.

A nervous Andi proceeded to her wardrobe and changed for bed. Despite the energy she had earlier, she felt sluggish and soon found herself yawning.

"Whoa, that was some chilling tea." Andi mumbled as she passed out face first in her snuggly bed.

As she drifted off into Morpheus' realm, she found herself facing a pair of red eyes and a triumphant laugh.

* * *

The following morning, Andi forcibly dragged herself from her bed. "Timezones should be illegal."

It was the day that Andi and Ida were heading off to Hogwarts to take part in the Triwizard Tournament and because of that the daughter of Zeus was waking up at the gods forsaken wee hours in the morning. All so she could arrive in Scotland at something that passed for a reasonable time for the locals.

 _After all the trouble they put me through, the least the wizards could have done was accomodate me a little._

"But no!" Andi continued to complain out loud as she finished her morning ablutions. "They only care about themselves and that's why I have to wake up in the frickin' middle of the night!"

It took her another ten minutes, grumbling the whole time, but Andi eventually managed to make it out of her apartment dressed appropriately for the chill Fall of Scotland.

She peeked at her Cabin's window to see that even her godly brother's sun wasn't even peeking over the horizon yet.

"This is way too early." Andi complained with a groan.

"It is." Ida said in agreement as she came over and offered Andi a cup of warm tea. "Which is why I told you to go to bed early last night _and_ have come bearing tea."

"I love you. Platonically."

As the tea warmed Andi up inside, Ida smiled in faint amusement as the drink was gulped down in less than ten seconds.

"Go on over to grab some breakfast at the Pavilion." Ida said taking the cup from her charge. "I'll wash this up and join you in a moment."

"Breakfast is ready already?" Andi asked skeptically.

"I called in a favor." The nymph called over her shoulder as she headed over to the small kitchenette inside her niche.

The daughter of Zeus easily accepted that explanation with a nod. Ida was crazily well connected, so wrangling up some early breakfast for them before they left was really not much of a surprise.

As she strolled to the Dining Pavilion, still too sleepy to walk faster than that, she could see a few dryads chatting in the Pavilion while setting out a hearty looking breakfast on Table One. One of the wood nymphs spotted her and waved the demigod over with a welcoming smile.

Shaking off a bit of her lethargy, Andi covered the remaining distance in a light jog and greeted them. "Morning. Thanks for the breakfast...Juniper, Cedar, and Trish?"

She hoped she'd gotten their names right. It would be embarrassing if she hadn't, she'd had many a foot race with the dryads at Camp Half-Blood after all. But the wood nymphs tended to look so much alike that it was hard sometimes to keep track of who was who.

Juniper giggled. "All correct, you get them right more often than the other campers, Andi. As for breakfast? Well, _Ida_ asked us. How could we say no?"

"You nymphs really look up to her."

"Duh!" Cedar said. "How many nymphs can claim to have raised Zeus?"

"A few." Trish commented, but Cedar swatted her with her ponytail.

"That are super famous."

"Oh, that's fair."

Andi and Juniper smiled at them in amusement. The demigod sat down and began her meal as the dryads bid her goodbye.

The daughter of Zeus was just digging into her cereal when someone sat down at the table across from her.

Glancing up, she saw that the other person was a petite girl with fair skin, chocolate brown eyes, elongated canine teeth and elfin features, much like the wood nymphs she had just been talking to. She had long, fiery red hair that reached down to her waist, with two bangs that framed her face which reached down to her chest. Dressed in a chiton, a outfit that nymphs tended to favor, the girl looked the picture of childish innocence.

"Hello?"

"Hi." The tiny nymph returned her greeting in a small voice.

Andi blinked at the girl a couple of times as she struggled to pinpoint why she found the girl familiar.

"Ah!" Andi said in triumph as she finally figured out where she'd seen her before. "You were one of the Aurae I summoned in my fight with the Dementors last year, aren't you?"

"You remember me?" The girl squealed out happily. "I'm so happy."

"Um. Yeah." Andi said uncertainly, taken aback by the strange nymph's enthusiasm. "Look, can I help you…?"

"W-W-Wendy, ma'am." The nymph shyly stammered, fiddling with the hem of her chiton.

"Wendy! Right, so are you looking for someone? It's kind of early right now. Maybe wait-"

"I was looking for you."

The child of Zeus quirked a brow.

Wendy fiddled with her fingers, an eager smile on her face. "You… Well, back when you summoned me, I, well, how do I say…"

"Uh, okay, take a deep breath and go slowly." Andi said, unsure what was even going on.

Wendy balled her tiny fists and plastered an earnest look onto her face. "I want to ask a favor of you!"

Andi was taken back by the sheer eagerness of the petite nymph.

"Err. What favor?" The daughter of Zeus asked uncertainly.

The nymph's smile grew incredibly broad but before she could, undoubtedly enthusiastically, ask her favor, she was interrupted.

"A that favor you can tell us about at another time, young Aura." Ida said as she walked over. "I'm afraid we're a little too busy at the moment."

Wendy wilted at this. "But I only-"

"Now, young Aura."

If the petite Aura could get any smaller, she probably would have. "Aw." Wendy whined pitifully as she rose to her feet, transformed into a gentle breeze and blew away.

"That was a little mean, Ida." Andi observed as the Aura departed. "I mean, she was a little bit of a chatterbox, but you didn't need to chase her away like that."

"Perhaps." The older woman agreed as she took a seat and started on her breakfast. "But you need to focus right now, there's no need for distractions. If that girl's favor is important, she will return again. Preferably when we are not so preoccupied."

"Fair point." Andi agreed.

The two ladies enjoyed their breakfast in companionable silence. Once they were done, they headed over to the Camp's central hearth to begin their trip to Hogwarts.

"Where's our luggage?"

"I had one of the satyrs carry it over to the hearth for us." Ida explained.

Andi just shook her head in amusement, the satyrs would just do anything for Ida. Tripping over themselves the whole time. "You really do know how to get the nature spirits to do whatever you want, don't you?"

Ida simply adjusted her glasses. "It is all about respect."

"Sure~" Andi replied skeptically. _Like her being incredibly famous isn't part of it._

By this time, the duo were in sight of the hearth and spotted that they had guests waiting for them. Standing next to their luggage, Hedwig's cage included, were Silena and Will.

"Will I get being up, but Silena?" Andi couldn't help but tease the daughter of Aphrodite due to how haggard the normally well dressed daughter of Aphrodite was.

"Can't I come to say goodbye?" Silena asked with a playful smirk.

Will snorted at her. "I had to drag her out of bed."

Silena's shoe tapped his shin in a threatening manner.

"Anyway!" The son of Apollo changed the subject and smiled at Andi. "Go out there and kick some butt, Andi."

The daughter of Zeus felt her confidence rise at the encouragement and offered him a thumbs up. "There'll be a whooping, you can bet on that."

"Good luck, Andi." Silena said with a hug.

Andi offered her friends a smile and stepped into the green flames.

Hogwarts awaited.

* * *

Exiting the green flames, Andi arrived in an all too familiar office. A beautiful trill earned her attention as she saw Fawkes on his perch.

"It seems Fawkes has missed you, my dear. I cannot say I have not either." Dumbledore, dressed in his usual purples robes, greeted her from behind his desk. Smiling warmly as always. "Hello, Andi."

Andi eyed both the old man and his pet phoenix warily. The man might be helping her out lately but that didn't change the fact that he had been screwing her over for years. Honestly, she didn't know how to deal with him.

"Greetings, Professor Dumbledore." Ida greeted the old man, while gesturing to Andi to do the same.

"Miss Ida, a pleasure to see you again. Your sister has been interesting company over this farce of a trail. I am glad we were able to resolve it though."

"Hello, Headmaster." Andi greeted, sounding uncertain. She was still struggling to figure out how to deal with Dumbledore.

Looking just a tiny bit awkward, the old wizard made an unexpected request. "Andi, could I trouble you for a few minutes? Alone?"

Andi shifted her gaze to Ida, feeling nervous.

"I think it would be okay." Ida told her with an encouraging smile.

Nibbling her bottom lip for a few moments, the child of Zeus hesitantly agreed. "Okay, let's chat."

Dumbledore gestured to the chair before his desk. Andi took the invitation and sat down.

Ida placed a hand on Andi's shoulder. "I'll go help the elves arrange for our luggage to be sent to our rooms. That should give the two of you some privacy."

As the door closed behind the nymph, silence filled the room save for Fawkes' trills. The sweet notes seemed to bring the demigod's nerves down - something that caused Andi to eye the Phoenix suspiciously. _Was Fawkes trying to manipulate me with its song?_ \- as Dumbledore began talking.

"I wish to apologize to you, my dear."

Andi quirked a brow. "For what specifically?"

"Your entire situation." He heaved a tired sigh, as he rested his chin upon the back of his hands.

 _I doubt he even knows what my_ true _situation is._ Andi mused to herself as she withheld a snort and let the old man continue.

"What about it?"

Dumbledore shifted uneasily for a moment before replying. "Before I get into it, I will need to explain to you my motives for my treatment of you in the past."

"You mean putting me into dangerous situations all the time?"

"Yes," the Professor said with a guilty sigh. "You see, your conflict with Voldemort. I foresaw that it would ultimately come down to a direct confrontation between the two of you. And that troubled me. Greatly so."

"Why would you care?" Andi shot back with a narrow glare.

"I was getting too close to you." Dumbledore said with a self-deprecating smile. "After meeting you I could not stop myself from coming to love you as if you were my granddaughter. So knowing that a confrontation between you and Voldemort was inevitable pained me immensely. I've seen too many fall in conflicts like that and each were heartbreaking. I didn't want to go through that again."

Andi cocked her brow, "So you pushed it aside and used me as a tool."

"I wouldn't have put it that way, but essentially yes." Dumbledore said, with none of the vibrancy that often served to belie his age. "I tried to placate my conscience by entertaining thoughts of perhaps training you as my successor. But that would not have been much better. Either as the bane of Voldemort or as the inheritor of my mantle, I needed to test you constantly to prepare you. Which I did, breaking my heart as I did."

"It prepared me, that's for sure." Andi shot back sarcastically with an eye roll.

"And I am sorry about that." The aged Headmaster said sounding genuinely. "But things have changed. The murder charge has tainted the minds of the public against you, Andi. No matter what, they would not accept you as the leader in the fight against Voldemort, much less as the shepherd of our world."

"I'm actually pretty okay with that." Andi said with a relieved smile. "I'm not interested in leading the Wizarding World in anything. Why should I stick my head out for a bunch of idiots that won't even get off their arses to save their own lives."

Dumbledore grinned and nodded in agreement. "I have to agree with you that our fellow wizards are quite passive. Though not all of them, not all the time. For instance, things have motivated this man to action."

"What do you mean?"

"After what has happened, I realized I shouldn't be putting my fate and those of the entire Wizarding World entirely on you. So ever since the World Cup, I've been preparing to fight Voldemort. To end his threat to our world once and for all."

"Isn't that my job?" Andi asked skeptically. For so long Dumbledore had been actively working to shape her into his weapon to do the deed that she now found it extremely difficult to believe that he would suddenly change his mind.

"What grandfather would leave his unfinished business to his granddaughter?"

 _I'll believe it when I see it._

Despite her doubts, Andi forced a smile.

 _Even if he is lying… Having the courage to fight Voldemort… That's the stuff heroes are made of._ Looking at Dumbledore's earnest face, and carefully avoiding his eyes and any attempt he might have made at reading her mind, Andi relaxed a little. She wanted to believe the man was telling her the truth. _And if he is… Then when he faces old snake face I'll be there. Can't have a civilian doing my job for me, after all._

For a long moment the two sat in silence. Dumbledore seemingly trying to wordlessly convey that he was being honest in his intentions while Andi continued to eye him cynically.

In the end it was Dumbledore who broke first. Apparently deciding that he wasn't going to convince Andi after only one conversation, he pushed himself to his feet. "Just think on what I have said Andi, that's all I ask. For now, I believe it is time that I show you and Miss Ida to your room. We have had a suite prepared in the guest wing."

"Thanks Professor." Andi flashed him a polite smile. "I'll try to go easy on the Hogwarts champ, don't want to embarrass the bloke too bad."

"That's thoughtful of you Andi, but unnecessary. Just do your best. I'm sure that Cedric will be more than able to keep up." The elderly wizard said with a confident grin.

"We'll see about that." Andi said with equal surety. There was no way some privileged little wizard could outdo a trained demigoddess.

"It's good to see you have not lost your gumption." The old wizard noted with a chuckle, as they exited his office.

"No, she has not." Ida, who was waiting for them outside the door, agreed. "Though she has learnt to moderate it a great deal."

"Hey, you gotta go bold or you might as well go home." Andi shot back with a shrug.

Dumbledore shot Ida a sympathetic look. "There's still a lot of work to do I see. My sympathies."

"Hey!" Andi protested indignantly. "I'm not that bad."

"Not anymore." Ida agreed. "But your arrogance could still do with a little more tempering."

 _I plea my sire!_

Dumbledore nodded in agreement with Ida but thankfully chose to change the topic. "Has the luggage been delivered, Miss Ida?"

"Yes," The nymph answered as the trio began their journey to the castle's guest wing. "The House Elves were most helpful. Thought I must ask why the guest wing was so empty? Are you not also hosting staff and students from two other schools participating in the Tournament?"

"We are. Thankfully however both Durmstrang and Beauxbatons brought their own accommodation. So the guest wing is mostly empty. Beyond the odd guest from the Ministry, the two of you will be quite alone."

Andi was hyped about this, it meant that things were private enough to practice with her powers and wandless magic without tipping the wizards off.

"Alone except for the portraits, elves and whatever ghosts might choose to wander into the area." Ida noted cooly.

"Aw." Andi whined in disappointment, as she rested her arms behind her head. "I guess no super secret strategy sessions at bed time."

Dumbledore shot the two women an apologetic smile. "That, I'm afraid, is the price of living in Hogwarts."

"And why your competitors chose to bring their own housing." Ida concluded. "I suppose that we are lucky that we do not care enough about the outcome of this Tournament to think of bothering with the expense of doing the same."

"Apologies again for getting you involved Andi." Dumbledore offered sounding genuinely guilty as he did. "If only I had protected the Goblet better, than you would not have been needlessly dragged into this fiasco."

Andi just waved the sentiment away. She had made her peace with the whole thing already. Mostly, anyway.

It was at this point that the trio reached a set of suites in the guest wing.

"These are your suites, ladies."

"Thank you for escorting us here, Professor." Ida offered a polite dismissal.

Taking the hint, the Headmaster wished the two goodbye and departed.

"So how did the talk with him go, Andi?" Ida asked as she guided the demigoddess into their quarters, gesturing as she did at the layout. It was pretty straightforward, a simple common room with a sofa set around a coffee table that was set in front of a fireplace. On either side of the room there were doors that led to bedrooms that came with en suite bathrooms.

"It went okay." Andi replied even as she peeked into the bedroom on the right and found her luggage laid out at the foot of the four poster bed, obviously this room was going to be hers. "I still don't really trust him but he does seem like he's trying to help me out."

Hedwig was napping on her own little roost, Andi snuck in and stroked her feathers with a tiny smile.

"I agree with your assessment. I do not think it is wise to fully trust him either, but I do acknowledge that he seems to be trying to be genuinely helpful to you."

"Yup." Andi said as she finished exploring her room. "So what do we do now?"

"First things first, unpack your things." Ida said with a nod towards Andi's bags. "We'll decide on the rest later."

"Yes ma'am!" Andi replied cheekily with a mock salute as she complied.

Ida just shook her head in amusement as she left to do her own unpacking.

Alone, Andi smiled as she eyed her surroundings. It was different from her old Gryffindor dormitory, but it was still Hogwarts. And even after everything that happened, even after finding a place at Camp, to a part of Andi, the castle was still…

"...Home."

* * *

The Great Hall was, as always, filled with the chatter of the students. It was nice to see some things never changed. The students of Durmstrang sat with Slytherin while those from Beauxbatons sat with those of Ravenclaw. Their respective headmasters were seated up at the high table for the staff.

"She's like a female Hagrid." Andi muttered at seeing the towering woman that was Madam Maxime, as she idly ate her chicken pot pie.

Still chewing on a mouthful of food, Ron who was sitting across from her, nodded. Swallowing, he replied. "Crazy right? Hagrid seems to be sweet on her, he is."

Andi had decided to eat at her former house's table with Ida right next to her, even though the nymph had been invited to the staff table.

Funnily enough, since they were now technically representing a fourth competing 'school', Ida was entitled to be a judge. Of course the nymph declined the position. Accepting it would have legitimized their participation in the tournament, something that went directly counter to their stance that they were only taking part under duress.

"Yeah." Andi told her friend as she did her best to ignore some of the looks she was getting. Ida had been right, a good amount of people didn't look pleased to see her. Looks like the Daily Prophet was doing a wonderful job at slaughtering her in the papers.

Tough tits. As far as the daughter of Zeus was concerned, the matter was dealt with and prattling on about 'injustice' and such did nothing productive. They just wanted a villain to put to the flame.

And here Andi thought the Witch Trials ended a long time ago.

As her friend continued to stuff his face, the blue eyed girl felt her stomach churn. Not in disgust for his lack of manners, she was used to that, but for what she had done to him.

"Hey, Ron. I'm real sorry mate."

"What for?" Ron asked a puzzled look on his face.

"I-I messed up in a big way." Andi explained earnestly, desperately hoping that her friend would forgive her. "What I agreed to with Hecate? I cursed you with the Styx. I'm so sorry."

"What's to be sorry about?"

"I had you make an Oath on the Styx. One where you could never tell anyone about," Andi shot a look around and leaned in so as not to be heard by the students around them at the table. "My secret."

"Yeah, I remember. It isn't that hard a promise to keep." Ron reassured. "I keep secrets all the time."

"This is different, Ron." Andi insisted sternly. "You can _never_ tell anyone about it. Even a unintentional slip-up will count as you breaking the Oath and when that happens-"

"All kind of bad stuff will happen to me, I know." Ron said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I did my research."

Andi was stunned.

"If you know, then why aren't you worried?"

"Like I said," Ron said with a serious look on his face. "It won't be a problem, I'll just need to keep the secret. It's not too difficult."

Andi was skeptical but in the face of the Weasley's confidence, she really had no way to respond. There was nothing she could think of saying to convince him otherwise.

A part of her was glad that he didn't hate her for what she had done. Still, another part of Andi was nervous at how casual he was acting about it.

 _At least I've got one friend to talk to here at Hogwarts._ At this sad thought Andi's eyes wandered over to Hermione, sitting apart from everyone at the other end of the house table.

It was obvious Andi's other best friend had figured out what had happened from the beginning and was so angry at what the daughter of Zeus had done to her that she would now not even attempt to talk to her.

' _Mione's going to hate me till the day she dies. Hell, she'd hate me in Hades too._

Andi was jarred from this depressing thought as Ida gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

The demigod glanced up at her with a small smile that clearly conveyed her thanks.

"Don't think on it." Ida advised. "What's done is done. Focus on the present and for now that means dinner."

It was nice to know that she had support here.

* * *

"I forgot how heavy the food was here!" Andi patted her stomach as she and Ida walked back to their quarters. "Still good though."

"I believe your next meal should be more healthy. They eat a feast like that every meal?" Ida frowned.

Andi nodded as she stretched her arms a little. "Yes, always."

Ida's frown deepened. "I think I'll have a word with the chefs. They're house elves, correct?"

"Gotta find the kitchens first."

"Not a problem." Ida airily retorted. "I'll just ask Dumbledore. After all, getting the chefs to prepare balanced meals for my charge is part of my duties. Considering how accommodating he has been, I'm sure he'll oblige."

"Can I make requests?"

Ida gave her a flat look. "I'm not lifting your limit on sweets."

"Can ya blame a girl?" Andi pouted.

"Yes, yes, I can." Ida said with a teasing smile. "Don't worry though, I'll be sure to have them prepare one of your favorite desserts whenever you do something to merit it."

Andi whooped in joy, jumping and hovering in the air for a moment. She landed and flashed Ida a winning smile. "Sounds like a deal! Thanks!"

"Taking care of you is my job, after all." Ida replied with a wave of her hand.

That made Andi feel warm inside. She looked at Ida with sincerity and said. "Thanks. You know, for all the support. And I don't mean arranging things and stuff. But like giving me space with Dumbledore and Ron. And helping with my feelings and that kinda thing too. I'm terrible with it. I'm rambling aren't I?"

"A touch. But your sentiments are graciously appreciated." The nymph replied to the blushing demigoddess. "You do know that you're not really as bad with your emotions as you think, right?"

Andi made to say something, but Ida put up her hand to gesture her to stop and continued.

"You're a tennager." The nature spirit pointed out. "Being confused about your emotions is to be expected. Perhaps, you've been through a few more extreme things than most but at the very least, you're on the road to getting a grip on things. That's better than can be said for most teenagers at your age."

Offering her nanny a brilliant smile, Andi questioned. "You really think that?"

Ida nodded.

Impulsively the daughter of Zeus gave her guardian a hug, one that the nymph easily returned.

"Thanks. I needed to hear that." Andi admitted.

"You're welcome, Andi. I was only telling the truth."

There was silence as the daughter of Zeus took comfort in the physical contact. It was broken however as her ears picked up the sound of someone casting a spell.

"Diffindo!"

What came next was a blur.

Acting purely on instinct and moving at superhuman speed, Andi released Ida and whipped out Skyline in its sword from all in the same motion. Without wasting a single moment, she used the celestial bronze blade to deflect the incoming severing charm - she recognised it from learning it in Second Year - into the stone wall.

Looking down the corridor where the spell came from Andi spotted her assailant. Draco Malfoy.

Her old rival was oddly enough alone, without the bookends Crabbe and Goyle that used to follow him wherever he went.

That wasn't the biggest difference in Malfoy though, that honor went to the wild look in his eyes that just screamed bloody murder. It was a far cry from the snide superiority that he normally exuded.

Proving this point, he took a step forward and cast another deadly spell. "Confringo!"

Andi didn't recognise the spell, but deflected it nonetheless reasoning that whatever it was that it was nothing good.

As the spell struck the wall and triggered a small explosion that showered the whole area in dust and loose stone, Andi was grateful for her caution.

At the explosion, a nearby portrait screamed bloody murder and fled from the scene shouting at the top it's painted lungs.

"Murder! Someone's trying to commit murder! Call the Headmaster!"

"Okay, Malfoy… I know you must be pissed." Andi tried her best to talk him down. She'd already done enough to hurt the guy, anything more would just be bullying. "But this isn't going to change anything."

"Shut up!" He lashed out and pointed his wand at her. "Incendio! Incendio! Incendio!"

Gouts of flame spat at her in rapid succession, making Andi crease her brow with annoyance. She waved her hand, conjuring forth a mighty gust to snuff out the magical flames.

The gust sent Malfoy stumbling back a few steps but he held his ground and levelled his wand once more.

"Disarm him, Andi." Ida advised. "He's not going to listen. Remember to use your wand."

Nodding, Andi drew her wand even as she parried another hastily cast severing charm.

"Expelliarmus!"

Andi's disarming charm - the only useful thing she'd learned from the farce of a duelling club back in Second Year - hit Malfoy like a bag of bricks and sent his wand flying out of his hand. The daughter of Zeus might have packed a little too much power into the spell however as it also sent the boy flying back a few feet where he lay on the ground, looking winded.

Cautiously, with her weapons still drawn and ready, Andi edged over to check on Malfoy.

He was just feigning though and as the girl got close, he sprung to his feet, his fist cocking back for a punch. "You bint! I'll kill you!"

It didn't connect though, as before it got anywhere close to her, Malfoy was suddenly picked up by another powerful gust of wind - that naturally left the daughter of the skies unaffected - and was slammed into the wall, knocking him out.

Ida smirked, "Nice work."

"I… didn't do that." Andi blinked.

The nymph was looking towards a nearby window. "I know."

Following her nanny's gaze, Andi spotted Wendy sitting on the window sill and waving shyly at them. "Hello."

"Wow, you stalked me all the way to Scotland?" The daughter of Zeus said as she put her weapons away.

"I-I'm not stalking you!" Wendy protested greatly, her cheeks as red as her hair. "This is a coincidence! Yup! A total coincidence. I'm just here on a vacation. This place is nice to visit after all. Plenty of pure and rich air around this place. Furthermore-"

"Stop." Ida told the young Aura.

"Okay…"

"Don't go using excuses to cover stalking my charge." The mountain nymph told Wendy sternly.

Wendy's whole face was inflamed - As in literally caught fire - as she sputtered denials.

Amused by the younger looking girl's antics, Andi decided to humor her. "So what do you want with me?"

Ida moved a few feet away to give the two some space. She crossed her arms and headed over to the unconscious form of Malfoy. With a nod, the boy's still form levitated into the air and she began walking off in the direction of the Headmaster's office with his body in tow.

Andi not wanting to be left out of whatever proceedings that followed in regards to her attacker, followed. Wendy doing the same even as she took a deep breath and exclaimed with a squeak. "I want to be your personal Aura!"

"My what?" Andi cocked a brow, confused by this. Was that like a personal secretary or something?

"She wants to be your permanent ally." Ida said, alleviating the young demigod's confusion. "If you agree, it will create a magical bond. It's like having a familiar, but with a more equal relationship."

"I dunno."

"Please! I really, really want this." Wendy pleaded, clasping her hands in an imploring gesture while shooting Andi the puppy dog eyes.

 _Argh! She does it better than me! And Hunter! Bloody hell, who can say no to that!?_ Andi observed as her will to resist wavered.

She held on though, as before she agreed there was something she needed to know.

"I'm flattered and all, but why do you want to be err- whatever Ida said." Andi thumbed to her nanny.

Wendy fiddled with a lock of her hair, smiling sweetly. "Because I know you."

"O-kay?"

"I mean, not personally, but, you know from the nature of your wind." Wendy rushedly explained.

"Uh-huh."

"What I mean is," Wendy fidgeted, clearly struggling to put what she was trying to convey into words. "I can understand you, the real you, from the nature of your winds. In a way, you're just like us Aura. Controlled chaos? Yeah, that's the best description I can give you. So I thought, being with someone like you would be tons of fun!"

At her chipper explanation, Andi wondered how wind could give a personality test or how you could read something like that. Did different wind speeds give tells? Or maybe it was the way it moved? And her ADHD was getting the better of her.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt." The daughter of Zeus hummed, before turning to look at Wendy seriously. "But you're sure about this?"

"So you'll agree?!"

"I guess." Andi said a little uncertainly. "Do I have to do some ritual or something? Or make an Oath?"

"Nope." Wendy said happily. "Your agreement is all the ritual we need. We're bound together now, partner!"

Andi blinked at that. She could feel it, the slight tug on her power that wasn't there before but now connected her to Wendy.

Up ahead, the daughter of Zeus noticed Ida shaking her head in amusement at the development. That amusement quickly faded though as the mountain nymph - and Andi - spotted Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape rushing towards them.

"Andi! You're alright." The Headmaster called out joyfully at the sight of her. "I was worried."

"Nothing to worry about, Headmaster. I've tangled with Malfoy plenty of times, I know how to take care of him."

"Even so," Professor McGonagall said as she came over to look Andi over for any injuries. "Do I have permission to scan you for injuries, Andi?"

Andi shot Ida a look and after receiving a nod, agreed.

Andi's former Head of House proceeded to cast a slew of diagnostic charms over Andi even as Professor Snape did the same on Malfoy.

Dumbledore meanwhile was listening to Ida explain what had happened. It didn't take long. What he heard had him adopting a stern expression on his usually kindly face as he waited for his colleagues to finish their examinations.

"Severus, Minerva, are there any injuries?"

"No, Potter is perfectly fit."

"Draco has a few bruises and a rattled head, but nothing serious."

Dumbledore let out a sigh of relief before he looked down at Malfoy. With a foreboding look on his face, he pulled out his wand and flicked it, a moment later the blond roused from his forced nap.

"W-What happened?" The clearly confused boy asked as he looked around trying to get his bearings.

"What happened, Mr. Malfoy, is that you have tried to kill someone today and as such will be charged for the crime." Dumbledore answered the boy in an uncharacteristically cold voice.

The blond wanker paled like a ghost and quickly shot Andi a look.

Before the idiot could formulate a reply, the Headmaster continued. "As you did so with a wand, something that we have no shortage of witnesses to corroborate, there is no chance of using the same defense Andi did."

Visibly shaking, Malfoy got onto his knees and began pleading with Dumbledore.

"Please spare me! You've let others off for worse than this before, Headmaster. You can do the same for me."

"The days I turned a blind eye to attempted murder is over." Dumbledore informed the scion of House Malfoy with the finality of the grave.

"...Bad. Ass." Andi broke the chilling moment of silence that followed the Headmaster's declaration.

"Language." Ida chided her charge.

Andi felt it was completely justifiable.

* * *

It was time for the First Task and Andi was walking alongside Ida down to the Champions' tent while going over their plans to deal with the beginning of the tournament. Unlike the other contestants, who all had specially tailored outfits for the Tournament that were in their school colors, the child of Zeus had chosen to dress casually. She had chosen a simple white turtleneck, jeans, and her high-tops.

She'd prefer to have worn something that showed off her affiliation to camp in some way, but sadly Ida reasoned that any camp gear or gods forbid armor would raise some uncomfortable questions. Andi saw her point and so had agreed.

The daughter of Zeus had not entirely foregone symbolism in her choice of attire though. To top her outfit off, she was wearing her new aviator jacket and that was something that was full of meaning to her.

 **~Flashback~**

The leathery fiber felt heavy in Andi's grasp as she held it in front of her. While she had been glad Silena wasn't upset at how she totally ruined the last one and that her friend had even given her a replacement, doubt filled her mind at wearing it

However, it was not out of fear of ruining it once again.

With a shake of her head, Andi tossed the jacket back on the bed and knelt down to tighten her laces.

Wendy padded over and picked the bomber jacket up with a frown. "Why are you tossing this away? Wasn't it a gift?"

The demigod's face twisted into a frown. "It's just, I don't know if I need to wear it here…"

"Isn't it cold out?"

"Okay, it is, but that's not the point." Andi said as she got back to her feet and turned to look Wendy in the eye. "With my newfound… fear of heights, it just feels like a joke every time I put it on."

Wendy's face looked thoughtful as she looked at the jacket.

"Well, that's one way to look at it." The Aura acknowledged, before she turned towards Andi with a challenging look.

"Or you could see it as a sign of encouragement to get over your fear. You know, a reminder of how fun flying is!" The nymph offered with a radiant smile.

Andi swallowed heavily, as she reluctantly agreed. "...I guess."

 _It's also a reminder of how I was once Scylla's chew toy too though._ The demigod thought to herself with a barely suppressed shiver.

Her new friend did bring up a good point though. So, hesitantly, she took the offered jacket from Wendy and put it on.

 **~Flashback End~**

The jacket honestly felt like a heavy weight on her shoulders, the heavy meanings that it represented pressing down on her. Burdens that only served to compound her sense of unease about the Task.

"It's only a dragon." Ida reassured at seeing Andi's nerves. "You've slew them before. There's no need to panic at facing another one."

"I'm not panicking." Andi retorted even as her face colored. Ida wasn't completely right about what she was nervous about. Sure, she was a little unsettled with having to face a dragon. Even if she had defeated ones before, they were dangerous monsters and Andi knew that they warranted fearful caution. Honestly though, the jacket and everything to do with it was bothering her a lot more.

Despite that, she was grateful that Ida was trying to help her out. Even if what she said was something that she'd told herself a thousand times already and which even Luna's owled letter from last night had said. Though, in Luna's own odd way.

She had felt bad for neglecting the blonde girl after returning to Hogwarts. With all the crazy things that were going on, reconnecting with the Legacy of Apollo had pretty much slipped her mind. Andi tried to meet up, to have a friendly chat, but on the first night at Hogwarts Luna had sent her a note that had warned her against it.

Something about the gods and Ida not liking that.

It confused the daughter of Zeus about why that would be the case, but she trusted Luna's visions enough to listen to her advice.

It wasn't just Ida and Luna Andi whose help that the pixieish girl appreciated, turning towards Wendy she began offering the nymph her gratitude as well. "Thanks for the recon, Wendy. Never would have known what was going on in this one without you."

Looking a touch bashful, the small nymph nevertheless beamed at that.

"It was not a problem! It's the least I could do, we are a team after all."

A smile tugged at Andi's face, despite her nervousness. "So how are you liking your room?"

Wendy shrugged. "It's okay, I guess. Personally, I'd rather be drifting on the winds or a cloud. But, it was nice of that old mortal to give me a room no questions asked. He didn't even bat an eyelid when he realized I was an Aura! It was very nice of you two to ask him to give me one anyway too."

"Like you said, we're a team. Least I could do."

That made the nymph just smile more brightly.

Just then they got close enough to the Quidditch pitch - next to which a special arena had been set up for the Task - for the noise of the crowd to become deafening and made any further conversation difficult.

It also meant that they were now close enough that Andi could spot some of her friends in the crowd, Ron and his siblings were easy to spot as they waved at her enthusiastically and just before she entered the Champions' tent, the child of Zeus even managed to see Luna waving to her with an encouraging smile.

Offering a small wave back, Andi idly noted that she was neither surprised nor upset that Hermione was nowhere to be seen.

 _I guess it really is over between us._ The daughter of Zeus concluded with a resigned sigh.

It was on this somewhat sad note that the Fourth Champion entered the tent.

She was greeted by a host of mainly unfamiliar people. They looked at her with contempt, annoyance, and disinterest. Only a handful were even slightly cordial. The only friendly face in the room was Dumbledore. Well, there was Ludo Bagman, one of the judges in the Tri-Wizard Tournament and his overly happy attitude too. But there was just something about his mannerisms that set off warning signals in her mind about him and why he seemed so pleased to see her.

"Ah, excellent! Excellent. There's our fourth champion." Bagman, a large portly man with blond hair and blue eyes said with that odd smile of his. "Come Miss Potter, we must have your wand weighed. This way, this way."

Ollivander himself was in the tent, looking disgruntled. "I don't see why I had to come a _second_ time for this. I do have a business to run, Mr. Bagman."

Ida gave the old wand maker a look and coolly retorted. "You are here to weigh Andi's wand, because at the time of the first weighing she was a fugitive."

"Ah yes, it is good to see the Killer herself." Karkaroff, the grizzled Headmaster of Durmstrang said.

"Fuuny, considering the company you kept." Madame Maxime snorted in her thick accent.

The man sent the giant of a woman a harsh look.

Ollivander was oblivious to all this though as he was too busy staring at Ida's long and luscious hair with fascination and curiosity. "My dear lady, pardon my forwardness, but may I have a sample of your hair. It's simply magnificent and most certainly special."

"Do your job and leave." Ida ordered frostily, her crystal eyes glaring at him.

The old man startled, as if suddenly jolted out of a trance. "Ah, yes. Apologies my lady, I was simply entranc-"

"Just get on with it, old man." The nymph cut in rudely, her tone radiating cold fury.

Andi could understand where she was coming from. Ollivander had been looking at her like someone would look at a particularly good piece of meat at a butcher, like he couldn't wait to cut her up and use her parts to make his wands. If someone looked at her like that, like an object to be used, Andi would be beyond furious too.

Thankfully, the aged wandmaker took the hint and got down to work.

"Miss Potter, your wand please?"

Andi handed over her wand without a word. She wanted to get this over with.

"I remember this one well. Twelve inch oak, a well aged tree. The core is a sliver of a bezoar from a magical goat. Very potent. Excellent for charms. Some nicks here and there, but overall in fair condition." Ollivander noted as he examined it closely, before seemingly satisfied moved on to testing it with a spell that caused a collage of flower petals to appear and dance in the air.

Apparently judging everything seemed to be in order, he nodded and dispelled his spell.

"Keep it in better shape Miss Potter." He told the demigod as he handed her magical foci back to her.

"Yes sir." Andi said with an unimpressed shrug. _It's not like I really need it anymore._

Andi was just walking away from the man when a camera flashed in her face, leaving spots in her eyes. In the next moment, some reporter woman with a predatory smile was all up in her face.

"Rita Skeeter, reporter for the Daily Prophet. As I've done with the other Champions, I'll be requiring a private interview with young Androm-"

A firm hand grasped the reporter's shoulder and Ida shoved the woman away like she weighed nothing at all. Skeeter landed on her rump with her floating quill and pad still jotting down notes.

 _Hopefully about how she ended up on her arse!_ Andi thought viciously as she blinked the spots out of her sensitive eyes.

"There will be no interview." Ida told the woman as she brushed her sleeve in a show of cleaning off the residue of the contact with the other woman, all while looking down at her with distaste. "As her guardian, it is up to me to make decisions about whether Andi will be speaking to the media in any way. And it is my decision that she will be having _no_ interviews whatsoever with _any_ media outlet. That includes trashy tabloids."

"Tabloid!" Rita sputtered and glared at Bagman. "I was promised an interview."

"Not for this minor." Ida harshly stated.

Bagman held up his hands. "Apologies Miss Skeeter. My hands are tied."

The reporter's face looked so red, she seemed on the verge of a stroke. "The contract for the Tournament, includes-"

"Nothing beyond the Champion's participation in the Tasks. Everything else is voluntary." Ida countered. "My lawyers were quite clear on that."

At the mention of lawyers, Skeeter paled.

"Fine." The reporter declared in a show of faux bravado that was betrayed by her still ashen face. "But Bagman, you'll be paying for this."

With her plans thwarted and her threat made, Skeeter stormed off. Apparently taking this as his cue, Ollivander departed as well, the Headmasters and Ida trailing behind him.

It was just the Champions and Bagman. Well and Wendy, though no one but Andi knew that since the Aura had decided to make herself invisible.

"Well, now that the preliminary stuff is done and it's just us - it's time to fill you in!" said Bagman brightly. "When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag" - he held up a small sack of purple silk and shook it at them - "from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different - er - varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too...ah, yes...your task is to collect the golden egg!"

 _Huh? It's that simple? I just need to fetch that fake egg?_ Andi mused incredulously.

"Ladies first, gentlemen. As the older Champion, Miss Delacour you can pick first." Bagman said, offering the bag to Fleur Delacour.

The tall and willowy blonde part-veela put a shaking hand inside the bag and drew out a tiny, perfect model of a dragon - a Welsh Green. It had the number two around its neck. And Andi knew, by the fact that Fleur showed no sign of surprise, but rather a determined resignation, that she wasn't the only one that had done the smart thing and engaged in some recon.

"Miss Potter." Bagman offered next.

Nodding, Andi reached down into the silk bag and pulled out a nasty little thing with the number four on it.

"Hungarian Horntail, that's a toughy." Bagman noted in an oddly chipper tone. The dragon stretched its wings and bared its minuscule fangs at the demigod.

The sallow Krum went next. He pulled out the scarlet Chinese Fireball. It had a number three around its neck. He didn't even blink, just sat back down and stared at the ground. Clearly as prepared for what was up ahead as Delacour was.

Cedric put his hand into the bag, and out came the blueish-gray Swedish Short-Snout, the number one tied around its neck. He swallowed audibly and looked shaken, as he had been ever since he saw Delacour draw a dragon from the pouch. In that moment the tall handsome young man lacked the easy confidence that had made him so attractive to his female peers in Hogwarts. It seemed he hadn't done his homework and was now suffering for it.

"You have each pulled out the dragon you will face," Bagman continued with the explanation for the Task once all four Champions had drawn their dragons. "And the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating. Mr. Diggory, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right?"

Cedric didn't even nod, in fact he looked ready to soil himself.

"I have to go to the judges panel, see you all on the field." Bagman waved as he left the tent.

It was quiet for a moment until Cedric made a noise of frustration. "Dragons? Dragons! This is, the the bloody hell?!"

Krum quirked a bushy brow. "Did you not look around?"

"No!"

"Your fault then."

Andi nodded in agreement, it was kind of dumb to not snoop around for an event like this. If all her years at Hogwarts proved anything, it was that you had to _know_ what was going on. Especially since your life could very likely be on the line. Since that was a given in this Tournament, it was doubly stupid of Cedric not to have done his due diligence.

A whistle went off and Cedric hung his head. He took a deep inhale and balled his hands. He bravely -Or foolishly?- turned around and marched out of the tent, his legs knocking the whole time.

"He is boned." Krum confirmed.

"Totally."

"Still better than tee leetle girl." Fleur commented while looking at Andi pityingly.

Andi glanced at her. "I don't know about you, but I've dealt with dragons before. I've got this."

"Lies." Krum shot back with a snort. "Or bravado. Either way, we crush you."

Andi's electric blue eyes turned stormy. "I'm going to enjoy knocking you flat on your arse. Just don't cry too much when I win."

"At leest you are brave." Fleur said with a sad smile. "I hope you live."

"I will-"

Before Andi could finish screams drowned out all further discussion.

"Medics! Where are the Merlin damned medics!" Bagman's panicked voice shouted, making Andi wince. "Oh Merlin, a direct blast from dragonfire. Oh Merlin!"

Fleur gulped while Krum grunted.

"Datz one down."

"Yeah we can count, you git." Andi told the professional athlete with a frown. "Don't sound so pleased about it."

"I not pleased." Krum shot back. "Sad. But also practical."

Andi wondered if the guy was a demigod, he certainly had the perspective of one.

"Let us all have a moment of silence for Cedric Diggory, a brave young man that was taken far too early." Bagman announced to the crowd as silence washed over the arena.

The French girl wrung her wrists nervously as she tried to keep calm. She was next after all.

"Let us proceed on ladies and gentleman, let us welcome our second Champion and hope they survive."

Fleur was trembling from head to foot. She recomposed herself admirably though and managed to leave the tent with her head held high and her hand clutching her wand as the whistle sounded off.

It was just Andi and Krum now, neither bothered to look at each other as Bagman commented on how Fleur was doing. They didn't pay much attention to that either, Andi didn't know why Krum was ignoring it but she herself was too worried about hearing any bad news about Fleur to do so.

Ten minutes later, Andi heard the crowd erupt into applause - though it seemed a lot more subdues than at the start of the Task - once more. Fleur must have been successful. "Now for our judges to rate her!" Bagman didn't comment on her score, but there was clapping while the whistle blew.

"And here comes Mr. Krum!" cried Bagman, and Krum slouched out, leaving Andi all alone in the spacious tent.

Taking a seat on one of the many stools in the tent, she swung her feet to and fro as her ADHD caused her attention to bounce around, as she looked for something interesting all while she half listened to Krum's performance.

"Very daring!" Bagman was yelling, and Andi winced when the Chinese Fireball emitted a horrible, roaring shriek, while the crowd drew its collective breath. "That's some nerve he's showing - and - yes, he's got the egg!"

The crowd was roaring in approval, wild claps and hollers filled the air. Even more so when he was judged. Apparently, all it took was a few minutes for them to forget that someone had just died in this stupid competition.

And like clockwork, the whistle came.

Looks like it was her turn next. Andi hopped to her feet and left the tent.

Her ADHD darted around the entire stadium at the sea of faces, until her focus finally shot across the arena floor that had been transformed to look a quarry or something similar and landed directly on her opposition in this stupid task.

The Hungarian Horntail was a big western dragon. Even with its wings half-furled, it looked bigger than the average dragon that snoozed in the woods at Camp Half-Blood. The creature's scales were the color of charcoal and each looked roughly the size of a tower shield. The dragon's yellow reptilian eyes were locked onto her for a long, assessing moment before it roared in challenge, making Andi cover her ears at the volume. The mama dragon added to this display by slamming its spiked tail against a boulder, breaking it.

It was crouched protectively over a nest of eggs. Amidst the clutch of alabaster eggs, the demigod's excellent eyesight easily picked up the glint of gold in it. There was the target.

Now to get it.

The daughter of Zeus aimed her wand at the dragon and cried out her spell.

"Αερο (Aero)!"

Nothing happened.

Andi cocked a brow at her wand and gave it a little shake, before trying again.

"Αερο (Aero)!"

Again, she got nothing.

"Seems Potter is in a bit of trouble!"

Andi tried her best to not shout at the announcer, she was in more than a "a bit of trouble".

Mainly the dragon breathing a gout of flames at her.

Andi made to escape it with the speed spell that she'd been practising with lately. "Sonic Move!"

Sadly, like the last two times, her magic was snubbing her or something.

Desperate, she used her air powers to do a super leap across the pitch and behind a sturdy outcrop of rock. The dragon raked its flaming breath after her though, and the demigod barely avoided getting cooked alive. She was still singed quite badly though.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" She whispered to herself furiously, even as she winced at her burns. She peeked around her cover to see the dragon snarling and snorting flames at her threateningly. Apparently not pressing its attack now that Andi was further away from the nest. That wasn't what concerned Andi though.

No. Her eyes picked up something fuzzy on the field. To be more specific, a polecat.

And Andi only knew one polecat.

"Gale!" The daughter of Zeus hissed like a serpent, wanting to snap the little thing's neck. Gale was a servant of Hecate as well, who did whatever the goddess told her to.

Basically, Hecate was screwing Andi over.

"That total-!" Andi covered her mouth to stop her words. She wanted to curse out the goddess so badly right now, but that would only get her in deeper shite with her matron. She understood what this was about, it was punishment for angering the goddess. Or having an opinion on her life.

 _Typical. The gods are jerks._

The demigod just hoped it wasn't permanent.

"Okay, no magic. No weapons. Looks like it's old school from here on out." Andi told herself to psyche herself up. She kept her wand handy so as to fool all the magicals around her and broke from her cover.

She sprinted towards the dragon. It eyed her warily, roaring warningly. When Andi crossed some arbitrary line in the sand that made it think she was too near its nest again, it began spitting fire in her direction once more. The daughter of Zeus broke left and leaped away, slashing her wand right at its wings.

Again, her magic did nothing, but Andi was expecting that and used her powers over the wind to launch a bladed gale that swept at the membranes of the wings, ripping them apart.

 _Gods I'd give anything for Skyline right now. Why do I have to use this thing?_ Andi complained to herself as she darted towards another boulder for cover.

Hit and run was her friend this time around.

"Knocking out its wings! Seems Potter's got a vicious streak in her!"

The dragon roared in agony at the injury that it had been dealt. Capitalizing on this, Andi shot out from cover once more and with a unnecessary sweeping motion of her arm sent a wind blade roaring into the dragon's side. The creature's thick scales proved too hardy for the attack though and it only managed to scratch them.

It did however distract the dragon from its pain and cause it to return its attention to Andi. Clearly enraged, the mother dragon began flooding the whole arena in fire starting with a torrent of flames aimed at the demigod, who with a power enhanced leap, tumbled into cover behind a nearby spur of earth.

Safe for the moment from the giant reptile that was bathing the whole area in heat with her flames, Andi wiped the sweat and dirt off her face as she thought of what do next.

 _It's scales are too tough. Distaction! I need something to draw it from the nest and snag the egg. Okay, okay, what to do?_ Andi pondered furiously. It took her a moment, but eventually an idea flashed across her mind.

What better distraction could there be than herself?

Or rather a _copy_ of herself.

The daughter of Zeus looked up and thanked her dad for the beautifully cloudy day that Scotland normally had. It had proven a wonderful source of inspiration for what she was about to do.

She concentrated and in a few moments, several clumps of cloud hovered around her. Andi gritted her teeth a bit as the vapors began to take humanoid shape and transformed into four cloud clones of her.

They were near perfect copies of Andi. In shape anyways, otherwise they looked all white and cloudy.

She hadn't figured how to give them proper colors yet.

"Alright mes, go out there and get roasted." Andi commanded them and the cloud clones ran around the boulder, zigzagging across the pitch in random patterns.

Andi ran around the other side of the boulder and headed for the nest.

For a brief moment, it seemed to work. The dragon looked interested at the cloud body doubles and moved towards them, but as it got closer its nostrils flared. Its sense of smell revealing the trickery, it let loose a furious snarl and whipped around to face Andi, who had by now managed to get within twenty feet of the nest.

The beast inhaled deeply and fired an epic torrent of fire at her.

It felt like time slowed to a crawl as Andi saw the deadly flames coming right at her.

Flight or fight instincts took over, she could have either tried to block the gout with an air shield or take to the skies.

Her body picked for her and she rocketed into the sky. She was a few feet into the air though when her conscious mind caught up with her and with it her fears.

Andi's blue eyes widened to the size of saucers as panic seized her. Seeing the reptilian creature, rearing up on its hind legs to snap threateningly at her, with its rows of sharp teeth brought back terrible memories of what happened in the Sea of Monsters. All at once her mind blanked out and she was thrown back into the awful memory of being torn apart like a ragdoll. She began to struggle against the monster only she could see, twisting and turning in midair as if in convulsions.

Gripped by the terrible flashback, she didn't even notice as she lost control of her powers and started to plummet like a rock. She was saved from a painful meeting with the hard earth when a gust of wind picked her up in its grasp and carried her higher into the air.

The sudden jerk from the wind shook her out of her delirium and she returned to full consciousness exhausted by her terrified flailing. As she recovered her senses she looked around her frantically as she fought to regain her bearings. She found herself encased in a translucent fiery red tornado that covered her body like a shell of protection even as the dragon took to blasting her with its scorching breath.

Andi did her best to not scream in fright as she was blown back, but didn't feel any pain from the attack.

' _It's okay!'_ The voice of Wendy said from all around her.

"Wendy?" Andi asked as she darted her head from side to side, searching for her friend even as she floated down on top another rock. "That you?"

"What's this?! I've never seen such magic before! I thought we were going to need the stretcher again folks! Is that really Potter? I can only just barely make out her silhouette in that strange tornado."

' _It's all okay!'_ Wendy told Andi reassuringly with a mental nod. _'I'll control the flight patterns. All you have to do is nudge me where you want to go!'_

 _Wendy, I can't just-_

' _Yes you can! We're partners, so I'm doing my part to help you. Let me! Please!'_

Andi took a deep breath and glared dangerously at the dragon, who now that the daughter of Zeus had once more moved a safe distance from the nest was now doing nothing more than growling warningly, as she steeled her frantic heart. _Alright, but we're talking about this later._

' _Of course. Now let's send this thing to Tartarus!'_

Andi was liking the little Aura more and more.

 _Wendy?_

' _Yes?'_

 _Thanks._

The tornado took a deeper shade of red, like Wendy was blushing.

' _Anytime.'_ The Aura declared as together they charged their reptilian foe.

The dragon roared furiously at them and blasted another searing gout of fire towards the girls.

Andi nudged right, Wendy sending them barrel rolling around the breath attack. The dragon followed their movements and tracked its natural flamethrower after them, but Andi's quick reflexes and Wendy's precision maneuvering allowed them to keep one step ahead of the fire breathing lizard.

As the girls' closed, the dragon stretched itself over its nest protectively even as it intensified the volume of its flames. What had previously been a stream of fire transformed into a literal sea of flames that spewed forth from the magical creature's maw.

The demigod and her Aura partner had no sympathy for the desperate dragon though and in one final burst of speed closed within striking distance of their enemy. Gathering the power of a gale into a fist, together they slugged the reptile right in the jaw.

The Hungarian Horntail tumbled to its rump, looking dazed.

"Eat it!" Andi whooped as Wendy cheered as well. Even as they celebrated, they shot down towards the nest and snagged the golden egg. She lifted the golden object over her head. Unfortunately, the dragon didn't take kindly to what must have seemed to it like Andi stealing one of its eggs and it snapped at her. Andi shot out of the way and was about to do something when the dragon suddenly fell under attack from all sides as a bunch of wizards surged out from the sides of the arena to subdue it.

The dragon fought back furiously, one bloke nearly getting his body chomped in half.

' _I feel sorry for the dragon.'_ Wendy confessed as the dragon was finally knocked unconscious by a barrage of spells from the wizards. _'It was just protecting its eggs.'_

 _Yeah… This was a really bad challenge. I mean, where's the animal rights?_ Andi mused guiltily as she looked down at the golden egg in disgust as she finally realized just how terrible the whole thing was. Even as she mulled over the Task, her new armor dissipated, revealing the upset Girl-Who-Lived underneath.

Wendy drifted off back to Ida as a gust of wind. The other nymph, Andi noticed, was looking on the whole affair with distaste. She wasn't the only one. A good portion of the now much smaller crowd had similar looks.

"She's done it! Potter has done it and in the top time as well!" Bagman ranted by the judges' table. "Now for the score! Judges?"

Andi ignored the judges handing out her score, she was too busy feeling disgusted with the wizards for both their callous disregard for Cedric's death and their cruelty towards the dragons and herself for abetting them by participating in the event.

She just walked back towards the Champions tent, the moment that she was signaled to do so. She would have just left immediately, after what had happened she wanted nothing to do with the Tournament, but Ida's lessons about how important it was to keep up appearances and stay polite kept her from doing so.

Inside the tent, she found Fleur and Krum hanging around as Bagman's voice rang out.

"Forty-one points! With that, Potter takes first place! A strong start for the youngest Champion!"

Andi glanced towards both foreigners and raised her hand. "Who else feels sick inside? Because I do."

Krum looked at her in confusion while Fleur nodded in agreement.

"Yes, itz was moost crueel to treat the beastz like that."

 _And what about Cedric?_ Andi thought as she shot the other girl a glare. _You know the guy who died?_

Krum grunted and looked Andi dead in the eye. "No think this lead means you won.""

"Mate, I give zero shites. I'm glad I bailed out of magic school. This is screwed up."

The Bulgarian raised an eyebrow in confusion, apparently not getting at all what had Andi so upset. For that alone, the daughter of Zeus wanted to deck him.

She didn't get the chance though as just then Bagman showed up.

"Well done, all of you!" Ludo Bagman cheerfully congratulated as he bounced into the tent and looking as pleased as though he personally had just got past a dragon. "Now, just a quick few words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth - but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you will see that they open...see the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg - because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!"

Andi just shot Bagman the stink eye as she stalked off. If the egg wasn't her only clue about the next Task she would have tossed it, preferably at the disgusting wizard's head.

"Only two more and this mess is over." Andi muttered to herself unhappily. "Hope they aren't as shite as this one was."

The daughter of Zeus had a lot of time to prepare for the Task, she just hoped she didn't snap by the time the event happened.

Because Andi felt it was going to be a trying year at Hogwarts for the _fourth_ time in a row.

* * *

 **Done and done! Long chapter is long! Nearly 20k words! Yesh… I know, but we had to get a lot of things done guys. Thanks to the awesome team of Nameless and Axios as always!**

 **Nameless: So this is a long, long chapter. We kinda realized that a little too late when splitting it was kinda impractical. We apologize for that. Hope you don't mind too much though since we covered loads of stuff here.**

 **Nameless: Oh, and at some point when discussing reviews (I can't recall if it was in response to one or our internal discussions within the team about it) we realized that Andi does seem to backslide in her character development a lot. We talked about it and realized (or more like reinforced something we talked about before but forgot) that this actually makes sense. One, because Andi is a teenager and they tend to do this. A lot. Two, because Andi has Zeus inherited godly levels of stubborn. Sure, she can learn but these two things combine in such a way that she compartmentalizes what she learns. For example, she learns that she needs to be stop trying to be a leader because she's not cut out to be one? Well, that lesson of being what she is and not what others expects her to be won't carry over to other fields beyond leadership. So her fighting style and mannerisms? Yeah, she'll still want to go for the flashy stuff because flashy, powerful stuff is what's expected from her even as it dawns on her that it doesn't really suit her anymore. That's why she had difficulty accepting Ida's lessons. However, as we showed in the chapter, Andi is making progress there too.**

 **That Ida, this lovely nymph** _ **is**_ **looking out for Andi's best interest here. So while she's a tough momma type, it's out of love. Which I hope we've shown through their little touchy feely moments. So when it's time to hit the books, Andi knows what she has to do.**

 **And Wendy! Andi's personal little Aura! She is based off Fairy Tail's Wendy Marvel, but with red hair. Don't worry, the moe is here with Andi's new partner in heroics. Hope you enjoy her stay!**

 **Also Draco is expelled and will be tried. But we're not going to show that because we don't care about him, he's not an important character. And frankly? I just like laughing at his misery. Gods I'm an asshole.**

 **Nameless: Yeah, good riddance to bad rubbish. On another note, hope you liked the First Task. We had the dragon seem a lot more reasonable and realistic than I think Rowling and most fics do. Ultimately, it was a mother protecting its young that was then abused by the wizards in a sick form of entertainment. Frankly, after putting some thought to it, I can't help but be disgusted with the whole thing. I hope you feel the same.**

 **How PETA hasn't attacked this scene like they have the Pokemon games (you know the BS game they made) I will never know. Now! On to the list of things to blather about. Andi and Hecate aren't going off on the right foot, or rather Andi is having a tough time dealing with her new boss. It's a growing process.**

 **Nameless: Yup, the whole thing with Hecate is actually almost entirely Andi's fault. She's basically the goddess' servant/employee now, but not only does she do slipshod work, she's also disrespectful to her boss. Of course, Hecate is pissed. A mortal boss in a comparable situation would be too. Hecate is just acting out in the way goddesses do. I mean you can't expect her to just give Andi overtime or fire her like a mortal boss would, right? Basically, what Andi has to do now is understand where she really stands in the hierarchy of Olympus i.e. Hecate's servant, and start acting accordingly.**

 **Oh! And Cedric died. Yeah. Moving on-Alright! Alright, I'll talk about it. Frankly, without Harry dropping him the hint, Cedric wouldn't have gotten out of that alive. Seriously, dude is average at best. I mean he just used a dog as a distraction. That's it. Seriously, he was a boring character and we just wanted to have some fun. Like how we did with Lupin in Rhode's story. All in good fun. :)**

 **Nameless: If you** _ **do**_ **want to read more into the decision to do this… Well, maybe that we want to play up how callous the wizards are? I mean, they did just basically brush his death under the rug without a care in the world.**

 **Finally, Dumbles himself. Old man's grown that backbone and is taking up arms himself. Yay! Of course, Andi is going to be involved, she has to be. Just, he's not going to be backseat driving -Brooming? Flying?- and that's all I'mma say here folks. You gotta wait and see!**

 **Nameless: Yup, Dumbles has redeemed himself in one of our fics at last. I hope you guys are happy. Honestly, we don't set out to bash the old dude, he just… Has so many things to bash him over. Well, at least for once we are playing him as a undisputed good guy.**

 **Now, smash that review button and show us your love! Be kind, no flames and peace off my peeps!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.**

 **The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans**

 **Chapter Ten: Operation Owl Liberation**

 **Beta: ShadowofAxios**

* * *

"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering." Andi offered in prayer as she tossed a drachma into the rainbow she'd created with a little magic, where the coin shimmered away. "Annabeth Chase, Camp Half-Blood."

Seated in the room she'd been assigned room for the Triwizard Tournament, she frowned as once again, the Iris Message failed to connect. Which was weird. It had been the fourth time that the daughter of Zeus had tried to contact her friend. And her fourth drachma non-refunded.

Maybe her blonde friend was busy?

 _That doesn't makes sense, I.M.s don't care about that._ Andi scratched her head in confusion. She should know, she once I.M.'d Chiron when he was in the tub with a shower cap and a rubber Ichthyocentaur, a fish centaur.

Talk about awkward.

Feeling frustrated, the daughter of Zeus just decided to I.M. Chiron instead. She just prayed he wasn't in the tub again.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering." Andi prayed while tossing yet another drachma into the magical rainbow. "Chiron, Camp Half-Blood."

There was a brief pause before the image of Chiron standing in the rec room of the Big House appeared.

"Chiron!" The demigoddess exclaimed in shock at how haggard the ancient centaur looked.

At the sudden shout, the centaur nearly jumped out of his horseshoes. He whipped around towards the voice and spotted the I.M. Breathing a little quickly, he rubbed his face and chided the girl gently. "Andi, please don't do that."

Andi just snickered. Breaking Chiron's normally unflappable composure was fun.

Said immortal clearly disagreed though, as he glared at her. He didn't really have much of a sense of humor about things like this. Personally, Andi blamed Mr. D for that. The god always got a laugh at Chiron's misery and after years of abuse, the centaur must have gotten sick of it.

 _I guess I would too if I was Chiron._ Andi reasoned. _Now I feel bad._

"Sorry." The girl said sheepishly.

The centaur nodded graciously, accepting her apology. "It's good to see you, Andi. Is something the matter?"

The daughter of Zeus nodded, before launching into an explanation for her call.

"It's just I've been trying to get in touch with Bethy for the past twenty minutes! But my I.M.s aren't connecting with her. She around or something? I kinda wanted to talk to her about this golden egg issue again. I think we're getting close-and why are you looking like that?"

Chiron's face was twisted into a pained look as he glanced to the side. "Yes, well, things are rather _trying_ at the moment."

" _Trying_ he says, that's a good one old chap." Mr. D's voice chuckled from somewhere just out of view.

"Oh gods, what did Percy do this time?"

The centaur didn't respond. Instead at the mention of Percy, his already careworn posture just sagged even more. In fact, he looked like he just wanted to go to bed and sleep off a bad hangover. It was clear that whatever had happened, it was weighing on him immensely.

Andi was about to ask what was the matter, but was preempted when the rainbow image suddenly turned around somehow to show Mr. D laying on the couch, flipping through a wine magazine.

"Well Amy, Peter decided to leave camp and chase after a group of questers looking for my femnazi of a sister who went missing. Terrible shame."

Andi's first response was to think that he didn't sound very broken up over his sister's disappearance.

However, as she processed what the god had said, Andi's eyes widened and she gasped out. "Artemis is missing?!"

"Yes, now lower your voice. It's annoying."

"Mr. D, please stop-"

The god ignored Chiron and just kept going. "Someone else, that Annabell girl went missing, or died too. Again, shame."

Again, he didn't sound broken up over it. Andi only noticed this in a distant way though, most of her focus was centred on something a lot more important to her.

"Annabeth's missing too?!"

"That's what I just said." The god of wine said with a dismissive nod.

"Chiron, I'm coming back to camp! Just let me grab a few things." Andi declared at the confirmation.

Mr. D lowered his magazine, and shot her a annoyed look.

Before he could say anything though, Chiron's face appeared in the image blocking him out.

"Andi, please stay where you are." The centaur ordered sternly. "A group of campers and some of Artemis' Hunters have already departed for the quest. They have this under control."

"Or they could fail miserably."

"Mr. D!"

The god shrugged. "I'm a pessimist."

"I'll see you in an hour or so Chiron." Andi said, waving her hand through the rainbow.

"Andi, wait-!"

The I.M. ended and Andi rushed to grab the basics of what she'd need and stuffed them into her newly purchased magical 'bottomless' messenger bag. Hastily, she slung the bag over her shoulder and bolted out the door.

"Andi, where are you going?" Ida asked with a raised brow as Andi stormed out of her room and pass her while making a beeline for the fireplace in their suite's common room.

"Annabeth's missing!" The frazzled girl explained in a rush. "I'm going back to camp to help search for her."

Ida blinked, a little confused as she processed Andi's words. Once she did though, her reaction surprised her charge.

"Go on then." The nymph said as she gave the halfblood an encouraging push. "I'll cover things here."

Even frantic with worry about her friend, Andi was stunned enough by her nanny's response to freeze. "You're just letting me go?"

"Of course," Ida said even as she turned in the direction of Wendy's room and called out. "Wendy! Come out, Andi's going on a quest."

The young Aura burst out of her room as a gust of wind and materialised right next to Andi.

"Ready! Let's get going." The wind nymph enthusiastically announced her presence.

Ignoring her partner for the moment, Andi turned to Ida and asked in a thoroughly confused voice. "Why?"

"Because you're a hero and more importantly friends mean the world to you. Taking that into account, I would be a fool to stand in the way of you trying to save one of your friends." Ida offered as she gave the stunned demigoddess another nudge towards the fireplace. "Now go, I'll make sure the wizards don't even realise you're missing. Maybe have one of the dryads from the Forbidden Forest act as your body double for a while."

"You sure that'll work?" Andi asked skeptically, even as she reached the fireplace and it automatically turned green. "I don't want you to get in trouble covering for me."

As much as Andi was determined to go help find Annabeth, she was still worried about making her nanny's life difficult. She was honest enough to admit that taking care of her was quite the chore, so she felt really bad when she made doing so even more trying.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Andi, but I can handle the wizards. With a little Mist, they won't even notice that you were gone." Ida reassured.

"If you're su-"

"If Ida says she can handle it, then everything will be fine." Wendy cut Andi off while tapping her foot impatiently. "Stop worrying."

Andi was still unsure but Ida just gave her a nod. Satisfied, mostly at least, that Ida had things under control on her end, the daughter of Zeus turned to the green flames and declared "Camp Half Blood" before taking a step into them.

 _Wait for me, Bethy! I'm coming._

* * *

Andi and Wendy arrived to a camp that looked just like it did last year during winter. Snow blanketed the cabins and the grounds, with red fireballs bouncing up and down around the camp providing the lighting.

Andi didn't take the time to admire the picturesque scenery though, instead the demigod rushed to the Big House with Wendy hot on her heels.

The door to the Big House echoed with a bang as a frantic Andi unconsciously applied her power to slam the door open as she walked in. "Chiron? You here?"

"Yes, yes. Andi, please calm down." Chiron said as he moved towards her. He raised a brow at Wendy and said. "Hello child, Ida's told me about you. A pleasure to finally meet you."

"You too, sir." Wendy bowed her head a little.

Andi felt on a knife's edge and was in no mood for pleasantries. "So what are we doing for Bethy? Do we already have a team out looking for her? Where do you need me?"

"Right here." Chiron said sternly. "Andi, I did not want you to come back to Camp. You were safer in Scot-"

"I don't care about my safety right now Chiron. Bethy needs help, so what are we doing about it!?"

"Oh Us, the little Banshee actually came back." Mr. D groaned from where he was lazing on his usual couch.

 _Nice to see you too._ Andi thought sourly as she looked at Chiron expectantly.

"...Nothing at the moment."

You could have heard a pin drop, if Mr. D didn't burp at that moment.

"Say what?"

Chiron pursed his lips. "When Annabeth went missing, Artemis said she would search for her on the side while she hunted a dangerous monster."

"And now said goddess is missing." Andi drawled, causing the centaur to wince.

"Yes, quite problematic."

"Then send me out there!" Andi insisted. "I can look for her! Or maybe join the other questers. I can't just sit here, Chiron."

"You will do no such thing, young lady." The trainer told her with an authoritative look. "Percy already fled from Camp to do the same thing. I will not have yet another possible child of the Great Prophecy out there if I can help it!"

"I don't ca-"

"No, you will not be running off." Mr. D said with authority, cutting Andi off even as he continued to casually flip through his wine magazine. "Frankly, your little blonde friend is completely unimportant in the grand scheme of things. We'll not be wasting good soldiers looking for someone who is almost certainly already dead."

"I don't take orders from y-"

Andi never finished her sentence before she clutched her head and cried out in pain. The wine god had by now discarded his magazine and had teleported right in front of his mortal sister. He loomed over her, his eyes ablaze with purple fire. The same fire that Andi could feel coursing through her veins, burning her from the inside out. The demigoddess would have collapsed to the floor but the god grabbed her by the front of her shirt and lifted her to his eye level.

"You forget your place, little mortal." The Olympian said his voice echoing with power as his free hand roughly grabbed Andi's cheeks and forced her to look into his flaming eyes. As her eyes locked onto those fiery orbs, her skull felt like it was spinning under her skin.

"Mr. D." Chiron hissed at the god.

The god snorted and dropped Andi right on her butt, but it felt like she just crashed through a building. Wendy was by her side immediately, holding her as she looked at the god in terror.

"I'm going for a walk. I feel annoyed now."

Andi shook her head hard. So hard in fact, it felt like she'd her rattled brain.

Chiron knelt by her and shook his head.

"You shouldn't have said that. I understand you are upset, Andi, but I thought after what happened with Hecate you would use your head."

Andi looked down in shame. "I know I wasn't, but…"

Chiron patted her shoulder. "I understand, but please, Andi. We don't need to have you vaporized by a god. Not with how tense things are right now."

The daughter of Zeus nodded solemnly.

"Wendy, please help her to Cabin One. We'll be having dinner soon."

Wendy nodded and wordlessly helped Andi to her feet.

"Thanks." The demigod said as she was wobbled on her feet. "Hey, Wendy?"

"Yes?"

"If you see me about to mess up, stop me. Please." Andi said with a groan. _I really need a filter._

"Yes ma'am!" The Aura declared with a determined nod.

* * *

When the horn sounded for dinner, Andi and Wendy sat at Table One as the few year rounders sat at their own tables. The only thing new was that Table Eight was filled with a lot of young girls, all of whom had silver winter gear and glowing auras of the same color. From the brochure that was forced into her hand by one of the over enthusiastic girls -Again! She still remembered the one she got after killing the Calydonian Boar - Andi figured them to be Hunters of Artemis, the goddess' personal handmaidens that followed her on hunts. Though all of them had this nervous feel about them, most likely from their matron's capture.

Andi could understand how they felt to a degree, but the girls also had this icy feel to them. Especially when they were shooing away this little boy who kept pestering them with questions.

From what she'd - well, mainly Wendy - gathered, the boy was a new arrival to Camp whose sister had recently joined the Hunters and had gone on the quest to rescue the goddess of the Hunt. So being new to the situation, both in terms of his sister being a Hunter and being a halfblood, he was worried and curious about things. He thus naturally turned to the one group of people that could best answer his questions. Only to be coldly rebuffed.

Frankly, that pissed Andi off quite a bit. She understood that the Hunters were uneasy and didn't really like boys but there was no reason to treat the brother of one of their own like this. Not when he was just worried about his sister, their comrade.

He had messy black hair that looked like he just rolled out of bed, big brown eyes and an olive complexion. He like everyone else was bundled head to toe in winter clothing. More importantly though, Andi realized after giving the boy a good look that she recognised him.

"Nico?!" The child of Zeus looked surprised, as the sense of recognition set in.

The boy turned towards her, his brown eyes widening in his own surprise as he spotted someone he knew. "Andi!?"

He scampered towards her table, his seemingly ever present Mythomagic cards clutched firmly in his hands. He hardly looked like he had changed since she had seen him and Bianca in the Lotus Casino.

A guilty feeling washed over Andi at that moment. Back then, she had left her new friends inside that cursed casino. Abandoning them to be eternally trapped out of time. Yes, she had to worry about World War III, but it still made her feel bad.

"You're a demigod too?" He asked as Wendy wrinkled her nose, inching away from him. Like Nico had just came out of the stable or something.

"Wait, you sit at Table One, that means, uh, Zeus is your dad!" Nico rambled on, without so much as letting Andi respond, looking proud of himself for learning his way around camp enough to point that out. The pride vanished as he knitted his brow as he seemed to realize something. "So that also means you're related to that spiky haired girl."

"Thalia, yeah." Andi answered with a tired sigh. _Is it just me or is Thalia becoming as much of a recurring problem for me as the Dursleys?_

"She's kind of a butt to people and didn't really like Bianca for joining the Hunters. And she crashed the sun."

Andi raised a brow at that. "Do I even want to know?"

"Probably not. But that's not what's important!" Nico shook his head, panic in his eyes. "Bianca, she joined those girls. And their jerky leader made her go on that quest to save Artemis. When I ask them about details, they just shoo me away because I'm a boy."

He looked so disheartened, like a kicked puppy.

"She joined the Hunters?" Andi asked the boy, and he nodded sullenly. She racked her mind at that, she knew Bianca wanted to have some separation from Nico, to be her own gal, but she never thought she'd join the Hunters to do it.

 _Then again, I only ever talked to her once._ Andi realized. _What do I know about her. Or Nico._

Seeing the boy so sullen, Andi did her best to try and give him some hope. "Hey, listen to me."

At her words, he looked at her.

"I know you think it sucks that Bianca joined the Hunters. But look at it from where Bianca is coming from. She's probably just trying to figure out where she fits in. You guys just barreled into a scary new world, one that's difficult to wrap your head around. Trust me, I've had years to deal with it and I'm still trying to get the reins on this life." Andi gave him an encouraging hair ruffle, getting the boy to whine. "All I'm saying is-"

"If all of you urchins can shut up. That goes especially to Amy over there, quit your asinine rambling." Mr. D announced from Table Twelve, his purple gaze narrowed as he looked in her direction. "We're here to eat, not talk out of our asses like you so often do."

Andi kept her mouth shut, but balled her fists. Wendy nudged her under the table while shaking her head to remind the demigod not to raise to the bait as the god smacked her down in public. Nico looked at her in concern, but the daughter of Zeus just told him to get to Table Eleven and eat his dinner, telling him they'd talk later.

Andi's friends gave her worried looks, but she waved them off with a smile and a shrug. She didn't want to worry them about her own dumb mistakes, though she had to wonder about what set Mr. D off.

 _What is Mr. D's problem? I get he doesn't like demigods… But why is he targeting me like this? It can't be because I disrespected him earlier, everyone else does that and he doesn't suddenly want to vaporize them. What the hell?_

After Mr. D's 'intervention', the atmosphere in the Dining Pavilion became exceptionally gloomy. Everyone was either worried about setting the obviously upset god off or, in the case of the Hunters and friends of the questers, worried about their friends out on their quest.

Things just got worse from there as Mr. D, probably feeling vindictive, cancelled the singalong, saying he'd had enough headaches today and sent everyone back to their cabins early. Even the Hunters, who looked ready to set his cabin on fire for ordering them around. Their defiance didn't sit well with him though and like the god he was, Mr. D didn't take any shite from them and locked them in Cabin Eight with a snap of his fingers.

All in all, with the Camp's resident god in a unprecedented bad mood, the Campers' day ended rather abysmally.

* * *

Andi furrowed her brow as she looked at her mosaic ceiling. She stapled her fingers on her stomach as her other hand stroked Hunter's head. Wendy was on the couch, pushing buttons on the remote in an attempt to figure out how a Telly works.

Judging by the scream she released at turning to a hack and slash horror movie, it wasn't going well.

"How does this work? The other Aura all make it sound so easy." The frustrated nymph said as she threw the remote to the ground in a fit of pique.

"Haven't you ever seen a Hephaestus Telly? And don't throw that please." Andi chided her.

"Sorry. And No." Wendy shook her head with a pout. "I lived in a nice and quiet tropical area. Well, quiet until a storm would come by. We didn't really need or want stuff like H-TV."

"Huh, nice to know." Andi mumbled to herself. _So Wendy is basically a country bumpkin? Interesting._

Wendy grasped the head on the couch and looked at her intently. "So what are you going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

The Aura shook her head. "Our bond, remember? I can just feel you ready to zoom out of here."

Now that was awkward. She didn't get the thrill of a reveal to her coming escape attempt.

"So, I've got a plan."

"Which I figured."

Andi glared at her from the resting place of her bed. _She's getting a mouth, this one. Does that make me a good or bad influence?_

Shaking her head, Andi replied. "Simple. I'm going to Sonic Move out of here. You and Hunter stick with me and later when we're clear of New York and anyone looking for us from Camp, we ride Hunter west. Hopefully we meet up with the others and then recuse Bethy and Artemis."

"...I have so many questions." Wendy stated.

"Save them for when we're out of camp." The daughter of Zeus sat up. She glanced to her side. "Hunter, puppy mode."

Hunter barked happily and morphed into a small, cute, and portable puppy.

"Aww." Wendy cooed at the little guy.

"I know right? Now if only he could shoot celestial laser beams out of his eyes, then he'll be completely perfect." Andi snickered.

Wendy's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "He can't really do that, can he?"

Andi held Hunter up and his tongue flicked her nose. "I don't think so. If he can, he's really holding out on me."

Hunter just whined and shook his head. As if trying to say that he would never do that.

Andi rubbed her nose against his wet one. "Alright, I'll believe you. For now."

Her puppy whined at her tease. She hugged him and got to her feet. "Alright, Operation Bird Flew The Coop is a go!"

Wendy pumped her fist in the air as Hunter barked.

* * *

The daughter of Zeus secured her bag, shooting Hunter a glance to make sure he was comfortable in it. She found her dog poking his head out in excitement. Smiling at his enthusiasm, she turned to her partner. "You set, Wendy?"

The Aura nodded as the two exited the top of the cabin. Seeing all of camp asleep, the demigod nodded to her partner. Wendy wrapped around Andi and turned into a fiery red twister that spun around her. The two had dubbed this mode Storm Mail, mainly because the name had an epic ring to it.

Andi looked towards the entrance of the camp, by Thalia's tree where the Golden Fleece laid and said two words.

"Sonic Move."

Her body tensed as she was propelled forward in a blur of motion that resembled a streak of blue lightning as she blitzed out of camp.

The girl had to do this repeatedly as she rushed across the the rural countryside around Camp and made distance from any possible pursuers.

 _Gotta keep moving._ Andi reminded herself. _More distance the better, can't do this forever._

Unfortunately for Andi, she barely made it to East Hampton before she was intercepted. She had just dropped out of a Sonic Move on the roof of some building and was prepping up another one when suddenly she was entangled in vines. Wendy tried to help her but found herself similarly entangled, impossibly so since she was currently in her wind form. Even Hunter had been pulled out of her bag by the vines and bound up like an adorable present.

Andi had a good idea who was responsible, so knowing that she was on thin ice with him, didn't try breaking free. It would likely just have pissed the god off.

Sure enough, moments after the vines had successfully restrained all three of them, Mr. D materialized in front of their bound forms. His eyes ablaze with both a violet inferno and malicious satisfaction, he addressed his victims.

"My, my, what do I have here?" The god said gleefully as he rubbed his hands together. "A arrogant little half-blood who thinks she knows better and decides to run off even after immortals and _gods_ decide it's better for her to stay put."

Andi wanted to retort, wanted to tell him that she _had_ to go help save Bethy. But she didn't need the nudge Wendy gave her to tell that saying anything right now would just make things worse for her.

"Nothing to say?" The god of wine said sounding genuinely surprised. "Incredible, the brat actually learned some restraint. I wonder which of us granted this miracle."

Again the daughter of Zeus had to fight down the urge to say something to defend herself.

Still smirking, the god shrugged. "Well, it doesn't matter I guess. After all, I already have all the reason I need to punish her. Running away from camp, against orders mind you, is quite the offense."

The god started pacing while rubbing his bearded chin in thought. "Should I turn you into a squirrel? No, no. Too boring. Oh I know!" He stopped his pacing and turned to face Andi with a self-satisfied smirk on his face, like he'd just thought up something fabulous. "I'll take that dog of yours."

Andi's heart lurched at the very idea even as Hunter barked in defiance. "Oh shut your yap, you mongrel. I don't mean permanently. Zeus would not like that. But you're definitely not going on this little excursion."

With that he snapped his fingers and Hunter disappeared.

"Where did you send him?" Andi shouted, her fear and anger at what the god could do to her dog overwhelming her sense of caution.

"Back to that kennel you call a cabin."

The sky rumbled in offense, but Mr. D paid it no mind this time.

"After all, having a divine beast like the golden dog along with you is an unfair advantage. I mean with him around, most monsters won't even pose a challenge. And we can't have that can we?"

"It sounds like you hope I'll die." Andi noted.

"Oh, I do." Andi wanted to say she was surprised, but by this point? She honestly wasn't. "Frankly, I hate all of you brats. But you? You're the worst of the worst. I utterly _despise_ you. You're just like a shrimpy Herakles. Always getting help from dear old daddy. It disgusts me. Where was he when _I_ needed help?"

 _This coming from the guy who marched into India with an army of frenzied Maenads and Fratboy Satyrs drunk on wine._ Andi thought to herself, but knew better than to say.

It seemed Andi's thoughts were a little too loud though, as the god seemed to have heard her if the increased intensity of the flames in his eyes were anything to go by. Fortunately, he seemed to not want to act on it. Maybe he didn't want to out the fact that he was reading her mind? Whatever the case, the demigod was just thankful to all the gods - yes, even Mr. D himself - that he didn't take more of an offense. She liked not being a vegetable.

Instead of reducing Andi to her constituent atoms, the god just continued with his angry rant. "More importantly, while Zeus gets to spoil you, I can't do the same for my children? I know he has the whole double standards thing, but this is just like back in the old days. Perseus, Herakles, and the rest of the trireme full of his little bastards. And now you're added to the list."

Suddenly, the god's demeanor changed. His previous anger draining away, only to be replaced by a deep sadness. "Why is it that he can set you on track to immortality and I can't even intervene to save my sons when they are in mortal danger?"

"What, where are they!?" Andi's blurted out, worried about her friends.

The god just snorted. "Like I need Little Miss Gasoline for that fire. Frankly, even if you technically fall into my realm already, I don't want that touched head of yours near them. You are trouble Andromeda Potter. Too much trouble for me to care for at my camp."

Andi looked away, feeling hurt that he legitimately claimed that she was crazy. _Because as the god of madness, if he says it then it's true._

"And that's why I hope you die on this fool's errand." Mr. D admitted, his fiery anger rekindled. "Why I'm gaming things so that the chances of that increases."

"...Well, I'll either save a goddess or die trying to keep the world on the right path." Andi looked into his eyes, mustering her courage the best she could.

The god scoffed. "So you think, you little self-centered brat. I'm sure the outcome would be the same even if you weren't there."

The daughter of Zeus shrugged. "If I can help, that's all that really matters to me."

"I know." Mr. D said with a gleefully malicious smile, even as he snapped his fingers and the vines released her and Wendy. "It's what I'm counting on to get you killed."

Andi took that as her signal to leave. She glanced at Mr. D and said. "Hope the twins will be okay. See you later, maybe."

She murmured her spell and was gone in a flash of lightning. All while, she ignored the mad cackling of the vindictive god of madness that echoed across the town.

* * *

In a streak of lightning, Andi and Wendy arrived on a rooftop in Manhattan. The hustle and bustle of the city raced below them, producing thousands of varied noises that hit Andi's ears. The young demigod rubbed her face in frustration as she tried to sort out her situation.

Hunter was her best shot to find the other questers. Mr. D knew that too, so by sending him back to Camp he had pretty much screwed her over.

Typical.

"I'm sure it will be alright." Wendy tentatively said.

No it wouldn't, not unless something changed, and they both knew that.

Andi pursed her lips. _Maybe I could I.M. Percy or Bianca? No, I don't even have a location! What if I call that demon taxi Bethy told me about? Again, location. 'West' the Prophecy said. Where in the West?! That's so damn vague._

From her perch, the demigod looked to the street far below for some hint of anything that could help her. She glanced up, hope flickering in her eyes.

 _Hey Fates, wanna give me a hand here?_ A moment of silence, or what passed as silence in the city, was all she got. _Yeah, I figured as much._

She wasn't even a member on this quest, so why would they even bother to help her?

 _Not like they've done anything but screw me over anyway._ Andi scowled to herself as she turned away from the street and began pacing in thought. Wendy meanwhile had settled on an AC unit and watched her go in circles.

Frustrated that her pacing had not helped her to come up with anything, Andi stopped and began verbally tossing out some ideas. "Okay, so we've got no real clue where they are right now right? Maybe we could ask some spirits or something for sightings? Might take a while, but that's the best I've got."

"Or you could wait for your prayer for help to be answered." A voice chimed in.

"Yeah, or that, but I don't think the Fates are-" The daughter of Zeus paused her reply and turned to face the direction of the new person on the roof. Or rather the goddess.

There on the grungy roof was Aphrodite, the goddess of love, looking as gorgeous as ever. She still looked like Lily Potter to Andi and was dressed in a sleek black peacoat that was accentuated by a green scarf, black leggings and knee high boots. Overall, her outfit was pretty casual but she somehow still made it look like it had come off a runway.

Which it probably did.

Looking at her surroundings for the first time, the goddess wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Couldn't you have picked a better roof to think on? Like Macy's? Or Tiffany's? I just love that place."

The goddess smiled then, probably at the idea of Tiffany's. Andi looked away, a little unnerved by the goddess' sudden mood swing. "Um, sorry?"

The goddess waved it off. "It's fine this time. Now, what's one of my favorite little projects in need of?"

Andi was about to ask why the goddess had called her a project, but found herself sitting on a cushioned couch that had appeared out of nowhere with Wendy now sitting next to her. Looking just as confused by what was going on in fact.

The goddess sat across from them, laying on another identical looking couch as she played with an end of her scarf. Her emerald green eyes glanced at her, a crimson brow raised questioningly. "Well?"

Andi swallowed nervously, after her recent experience with gods, she knew she had to be very careful in how she spoke to the goddess. "I'm trying to find the questers looking for Artemis-"

The goddess groaned at that, kicking her feet in the air, kinda of like a child. "That lost cause? I swear, if Apollo didn't pull this favor, I wouldn't be here, Andi my dear."

"Apollo did what?"

The goddess rolled her eyes. "Apollo may act the airhead at times, but that's because he only cares for certain things. His mother Leto, his children, his two true loves, and his boring prude of a twin." She sat up, sighing dramatically. "So tall, bronzed, and handsome is calling in as many favors as possible to help the questers. Even some to help along _another_ sister of his."

The goddess winked at her, very obviously indicating to Andi that Apollo wanted her help to rescue Artemis too.

That certainly gave the demigod a warm happy feeling, it was nice to have someone counting on her.

"Now I can't do _too_ much or people will get all grumpy." Aphrodite's well manicured fingers stroked her chin for a moment, until her eyes widened as she got an idea. "Oh that should do it! Yes, he'd be a great help in your current situation." Turning to look Andi in the eye, she began to explain her idea. "There's this little settlement out in Union county, New Jersey. You should be able to find some assistance there. Just head in the direction of Watchung Reservation, you won't miss it."

"Who's there?" Wendy curiously asked.

Aphrodite only smiled and deflected the question. "That's all I feel like saying. Be good Andi! Or don't, I won't tell." She tittered. "Also, don't freak out too much when you get there. Now I have to get ready for a date. Tootles~!"

The goddess, and her couches, disappeared in a plume of lavender perfume, leaving Andi and Wendy to land on their rumps.

"She seems...nice." Wendy fiddled with her hair nervously, looking all around them.

"I'm just glad to know a god out there likes me." Andi quipped dryly as she stood up, helping Wendy to her feet as well. "Alright, time to head for Jersey. Let's grab a taxi, the last Greyhound I went on got blown up."

* * *

Finding a taxi station in New York was frankly the easiest thing that had happened to her today. She talked to someone working there and they said they could get someone to take her to New Jersey in twenty minutes or so. It was going to be kind of pricey, but Andi wasn't that worried since she had about four hundred dollars. More than enough, she she was sure, to cover the ride.

Deciding to do something productive while waiting, Andi went off to stock up on some food for the trip.

The sky child was just paying for her piping hot cocoa from a Starbucks down the street from the station, when a odd clunking noise hit her ears as something landed a few feet away from her. Andi turned to see what had caused the strange sound and her eyes widened in horror as she recognized it as a grenade.

Reacting instinctively, she jumped back in shock. Thankfully, Wendy reacted just as quickly and begun transforming into the Storm Mail, picking her partner up and pulling her further away from the explosive in the process.

The Aura was just in time. A moment later, it went off, unleashing an intense light and a massive boom. With her super senses, Andi was overwhelmed, leaving her blinded and deaf as her eyes were covered by white spots and her ears rung.

She didn't know what was going on, but all of her instincts were telling her to get the hell out of dodge.

Suddenly Wendy jerked her to the side, even as Andi screamed in pain as her body was peppered by what felt like molten hot pellets that burned through any unprotected flesh it could find.

In pain and with her sight and sound still impaired, the daughter of Zeus, felt herself lowered to the ground. She was still struggling to come to grips with what was going on when something was forced into her mouth. The demigod struggled to not choke, but the familiar taste of ambrosia on her tongue convinced her to swallow.

As the food of the gods worked its magic, the pain lessened, her vision began to clear up, and the sounds of New York City returned to her ears. Andi didn't completely recover though, it seemed she'd need more ambrosia to be fully healed.

Her vision was clear enough, even if there was still white spots that left things slightly blurry, for her to see a worried looking Wendy kneeling in front of her. They were ducked behind a counter as shredded dollar bills rained down on them.

"Andi, Andi!" She shouted, making Andi wince a little.

"I'm fine." The demigod said as she looked at her shoulder, to see her entire back was covered in blood and her bag was badly shredded. "What's going on?"

"Mortals are shooting at us. They threw this tube thing at you and it hurt you and made you disoriented, then threw an exploding pineapple at us! And that's when they started to shoot those guns at you too."

"Mortals?" Andi asked incredulously, even as she summoned her bow and took a peek over the counter to take a look at her enemies. "Where are they-"

She was interrupted by the sound of intense gunfire and she quickly dove back behind cover, however not before narrowly missing a bullet that grazed her cheek.

"Shite." She said in a pained hiss. Her fist tightened around her bow as she tried to come up with what to do next, even as the enemy seemed to be content to pepper the sturdy counter with gunfire. Something made difficult with the blurred vision, the ringing in her ears, and the pain of her wounds.

 _I need protection._ Andi thought sluggishly. _Can't take another of those grenades._

Turning to Wendy, she ordered. "Storm Mail, now."

The Aura nodded and engulfed Andi in the fiery twister armor while the demigod tore her ruined bag off her shoulder. Another clanging noise alerted her as a pineapple shaped grenade landed in front of her.

"Brace!" Andi said as the devilish thing went off. She was unfortunately midway through standing up to dash away from it though and the blast unbalanced her enough that she crashed into the back wall. Hard.

Thankfully, her armor kept her from getting any more injuries. At least for now.

The fall also had the added benefit of causing her to fall back behind the cover of the abused counter as heavy gunfire rained on her position.

 _Ok. I need a distraction._ Andi observed as she scanned her surroundings for something that could serve her purposes. Spotting her battered bag, she smirked as she pulled it towards her.

"Get ready, Wendy. We're going out the back. Full speed." Andi whispered as she formed a ball of air in her palm and stuffed it into the remains of the messenger bag. She popped out of cover and tossed her bag by the strap.

"Grenade!" One of them shouted as heavy footsteps stomped furiously, presumably getting away from Andi's improvised explosive.

 _Payback's a bitch, tossers!_

"Go!" Andi shouted as they blitzed to the rear exit while the planted wind bomb went off on her command, creating the distraction that they needed.

The partners burst out of the cafe's back door only to be greeted by gunfire that forced them to dive behind a dumpster for cover. One that was annoyingly occupied by a man toting a strange looking shortened rifle who promptly levelled his gun at Andi.

The daughter of Zeus wasn't about to let herself get shot at. Acting on reflex, a conjured blade of wind snapped into being around the now sword formed Skyline and she swung her weapon at her foe.

There was no finesse to her swing, only the barest hint of her training shone through. It was a wild thing driven entirely by instinct, but it still served its grisly purpose regardless.

No gunfire greeted her face as two meaty chunks fell to the ground. Blood and entrails painting the alley and herself as she cut the bloke in half.

Realizing what she'd done, horror begun to raise up, but Andi squashed it. Now wasn't the time, besides he deserved it.

She didn't get much time to think about her latest kill though, when a bullet ripped into the ground right in front of her. Spinning back in the direction of the cafe, she spotted a half dozen men cautiously making their way out of the back door, their guns aimed right at her.

Andi flung her free hand out and a blob of air appeared in front of the men. Before they could even shout 'Scatter', the air mine went off, sending the group flying.

Not waiting to see more, the demigod mentally cried out. _Wendy, rooftop. Now!_

Her partner obeyed immediately and the duo blasted into the air. Gunfire cracked off once more, but Andi felt confident that her Storm Mail could handle it. She was thus flabbergasted when a shot punched through her armor and grazed her side.

Andi jerked to the side in pain and reacting to the prompt, Wendy swerved to the side causing them to crash onto the roof of the building that housed the Starbucks.

"AP rounds work." A dispassionate voice observed through his radio as he cautiously walked towards her with his rifle aimed at her. "Roger." The man said in response to whatever he heard over the radio, even as he opened fire.

Andi rolled to the side and into cover, but not before a bullet once again grazed her left arm.

 _They're like a damn infestation._ Andi snarled in her mind, even as she pushed the fresh pain to the back of her mind. She changed Skyline back into its bow form and popped out of cover, earning herself another couple of grazes as the man adjusted his aim. Before he could get a proper bead on her, she fired a wind bomb arrow point blank at the gunman.

The bomb exploded into a vortex as the arrow hit the man's chest, tearing his body to pieces that rained across the roof.

Much to her annoyance, her display of power seemed to have drawn her the wrong attention as bullets from other rooftops peppered her. Fortuitously, it seemed these gunmen hadn't switched to AP rounds yet and Andi's armor kept her safe. Not taking chances however, the daughter of Zeus scrambled for cover once more, and hid herself behind the stairwell exit to the rooftop.

 _You know what, I think I'm starting to hate military people. Ares must be laughing his arse off at me._

 _What are we going to do Andi?_ Wendy asked through their link. _Maybe we can use some magic to run away? Or the Mist?_

The child of the sky pondered this, Andi would honestly have loved to get the hell out of dodge at the moment. But that would need her to either use the Mist or Sonic Move, neither of which she thought she could successfully pull off with her senses still out of whack from the flashbang.

Desperate for inspiration, she looked around at her surroundings but nothing came to mind until she looked at the reptilian eyed ring on her finger.

"Wendy, lose the armor."

 _Are you crazy! You need me to protect you from the bullets!_

"I'll be fine… I've got a-a plan." Andi swallowed nervously as she put away Skyline and summoned her drakon bone dagger.

Wendy returned to normal, looking as nervous as Andi. "And that is?"

"I'm going to leap to that other building." Andi pointed out the one to the left of their cover. "I'm going at it from the side and need you to give me a lift when I do."

"Okay, I'll do my best." The little Aura said with a determined look.

Andi gave her a small smile and looked at the stairwell. The wankers were almost certainly climbing up it right now.

 _Well, it's only fair to leave them a little surprise._

With a malicious little smirk, Andi placed a small blob of air right at the center of the door.

With her back covered, it was time to move on to the next phase of her plan. Andi moved to the side of the building and hung off of it, before swinging herself to the adjacent one. Wendy transforming into a breeze to give her that extra distance when needed. She continued her silent creep as she moved from rooftop to rooftop, until she made it to the one with the first soldier on it.

Using her powers, Andi stilled the air around herself effectively silencing any sounds she produced. With what little skill she had picked up from sneaking around Hogwarts, she stealthily searched the roof for one of her enemies. Spotting one that was thankfully looking the other way, at where she'd been just a few minutes ago, she approached the man.

"Re-positioned." He hissed into his radio bead. "Target lost. I repeat. Target lost. She must have moved." He was silent for a moment as someone on the other side responded, before he replied once more. _"_ Roger. Don't worry we'll get her."

Andi snuck as close to him as she could manage and waited for her chance. That came when the mine on the stairwell exploded. The man in front of her turned towards the stairwell and eyed it in concern for a moment.

Capitalizing on the chance this provided to her, she jumped on him and thrust her poisoned blade into him repeatedly. Her dagger slid easily in and out of the soldier's body, leaving bloody gashes that wept blood. He wheezed as the life drained out of him, but otherwise gave no sign as he dropped to the ground as a corpse.

Andi pilfered the corpse, looking for his radio. The movies always made taking that seem so useful. Just as Andi was going to continue her stealth takedowns, sirens wailed in the air.

" _Withdraw! All remaining units head to the rendezvous."_ The radio crackled. _"Repeat. Withdraw and head to the rendezvous."_

"Now the Bobbies show up." Andi grumbled, she thought New York's PD was way faster than that. Or maybe these guys had some of the Mist working in their favor? Andi didn't know, right now all she was sure about was that she hoped she wouldn't run into them again.

Wendy landed near her, fretting over her injuries. "We need to get you bandages, or some nectar."

Discarding the radio, Andi took out her wand and mended her clothes, cleaning herself up in the process. She gave the Aura an assuring smile. "I'll be fine, Wendy. Been worse than this, trust me. Let's just head for our ride."

Wendy looked ready to say more, but when Andi hopped over to another rooftop, she just followed after her.

Sneaking past the police line was simple enough as they just leapt pass it while still sticking to the roofs and made it to the taxi station in no time.

"You're five minutes late, kid." One of the drivers said to her when she showed up looking for their ride. "Ya said you were getting a drink."

"It was a long line." Andi told him. "So let's go to Jersey, yeah?"

"Fine, hope you got some cash, little girl." A grumpy balding man said as he took a sip of his coffee and entered the yellow vehicle. Both Andi and Wendy sat in the back and buckled up as some Latin music oozed out of the radio. Wendy quickly fell asleep, resting her head on the daughter of Zeus' shoulder.

 _Aw, she looks adorable._

Feeling herself dozing off, Andi's mind drifted towards what had happened in the cafe.

She hadn't thought about it earlier, what with being preoccupied with fighting for her life, but they were plenty of innocent people in the coffeeshop. Many of whom were likely dead or injured because of the battle. That weighed on her conscience.

What didn't though was the deaths of the gunmen she'd killed. _Those arses deserved it. They weren't just trying to kill me, they were perfectly willing to kill innocent people too. Taking them out was the right thing to do. Even if they were mortals. Besides, they knew what they were getting into when they picked a fight with a demigod._

At this morbid thought, Andi let out a tired yawn. The hectic day was catching up to her.

 _I guess I could use a nap to-_

The daughter of Zeus never finished the thought as the pull of Morpheus captured her consciousness.

* * *

Andi handed over seventy dollars to the cab driver as he dropped the duo off at the entrance of Watchung Reservation. The air was crisp and the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. It was actually quite the pleasant winter day, though Andi would disagree. She was too busy hugging herself to keep warm even as frost escaped her mouth each time she breathed.

"Where in the world should we go from here? Lady Aphrodite said there was a settlement around here somewhere, right?" Wendy asked Andi, as she herself looked perfectly content in the cold.

Andi huddled closer to her as the Aura gave off a warmth that chased the chills away. "Pretty much. I guess we go for a hike."

Without a clue on how to proceed, the two began to trudge through the deep snow of the forest, in a seemingly futile search for wherever the goddess wanted them to go. Andi was careful as she walked, her wounds had finally stopped bleeding on the ride over, but a misstep could easily reopen them.

Birds chirping and the crunch of dead leaves and snow beneath their feet were the only noise that accompanied the girls as they hiked through the reservation.

A distant footfall put Andi on edge. Reacting to the sound, she pulled out her bow in an instant and notched an arrow. Wendy was also on guard now. "What is it?"

"Something's here."

The demigod's ears twitched as she heard the footfalls try and be silent, but the dead leaves weren't the unknown's friend. She twisted around, an arrow aimed at whatever had approached them.

It was a man, dressed in a red flannel shirt, blue overalls and hiking boots. Oh, and he was over twenty feet tall with twin celestial bronze axes in his hands. He had short black hair, forest green eyes and a wild looking beard that had practically a small bush worth of leaves stuck in it.

It was at this moment that more rustling stirred the leaves and the snow on the ground. Monsters poked out of the trees all around her, each wielding spears and blades of sizes appropriate to their statures. Further back, just at the edge of her sight were dozens more armed with bows, their arrows nocked and ready.

Suddenly the branches in the trees above shook and Andi looked up to see a small flock of harpies perched above her.

Four more arrows appeared on Andi's bow as her heart beat pounded in her ears while Wendy shook behind her. Andi's eyes kept moving from one monster to another as fast as she could, trying to gauge who was going to attack first.

"Who are you, young half-blood? And what are you doing here in our Camp?" The giant, probably the leader, asked in a polite but cautious tone.

Andi's first instinct was to attack them and look for a chance to bolt. These guys were monsters and thus fair game, after all. But she stopped herself, if barely. The monsters outnumbered her badly. Battered and bruised as she was, the daughter of Zeus wasn't confident with the odds in front of her.

Plus for all the fact that the monsters clearly had the advantage, they weren't attacking. That was very strange indeed and Andi wanted to know what the hell was going on.

That didn't stop her from keeping her arrows aimed at the giant.

"Who are you?" Andi asked rudely back, holding her bow string back as tight as can be.

The giant arced one of his eyebrows. "Considering the circumstances, do you truly believe that you are in a position to demand answers?"

Andi would have continued to refuse to answer but Wendy grabbed her shoulder. Turning to look at her partner, she saw her shaking her head. Holding back a growl, the demigod answered.

"...Andi Potter, daughter of Zeus."

The giant let out a snorting laugh. "That suckler? Ah, yes, I can see it in your eyes. You have his lousy temperament too. Now why are you here?"

Andi nibbled the bottom of her lip. "I was told I could get some help if I came here."

Come to think of it, Aphrodite had also told her to not freak out too much about who would help her when she got to this place.

 _Was this why? Are they like Tyson?_ Andi thought as she glanced all around her.

"Oh? That's rare. And what help do you need?" He said, spinning his axes and holstering them at his hips. The other monsters looked uncertain at this but nevertheless followed their leader's example and slowly lowered their weapons.

At seeing this action, Andi herself slowly lowered her bow and dismissed her arrows, but still kept the string taut. "I need to find my friends, they're on a quest to save Artemis."

Some of the monsters hissed at the name of the Huntress, but the giant raised his large hand to quiet them.

"Hm, something has happened to her?" Andi nodded. "That would explain why the moon has been strange as of late. Very well, follow me to our encampment." The giant said as he turned his back to Andi. The daughter of Zeus was surprised by this gesture of trust and reciprocated by dismissing Skyline. Seeing this the other monsters relaxed a little more.

Seemingly oblivious to all this, the giant began walking off even as he continued speaking. "By the way, my name is Azeios."

* * *

The encampment was really a village of monsters of all kinds. It was a collection of buildings of various styles to accommodate its varied inhabitants. There was a number of caves dug out of the ground that looked like homes for the cyclopes. The harpies had treehouses that dotted the highest trees in the camp. There were also a set of more conventional log cabins that served as the homes for the human sized monsters, with one giant sized one that must have been Azeios'.

Andi took this all in with a sense of wonder. She'd never imagined seeing something like this. Ever.

"Yep," Azeios said happily as he noticed Andi's reaction to his home. "It took some time to make this place after we moved to the USA, but after getting this plot of land, we've really flourished."

"So it's like a monster meetup?" Andi asked as she rubbed her injured side, noting that her wound had reopened. Wonderful.

"More like a settlement." The giant corrected. "After my stint in the Titanomachy, lil Zeus let me go about doing my own thing. So I thought I would help whatever monsters that didn't want to mindlessly attack mortals and demigods to find a place they could call home."

Andi looked the giant up and down. "What'd you do in the war?"

Azeios pounded his chest with a fist and broke out into mighty laughter. "Why myself and my brethren, the Curetes, used our war dances to muffle lil Zeus' baby cries and were Rhea's defenders when her Ex found out she had spirited the young god away. We were amongst the first to join the battle against the Titans. So, lil Zeus honored us after our victory against the cannibal king."

He sounded very proud of himself, which to be fair he had every right to be. Andi still couldn't help but cringe a little though. She never liked listening to someone talk about their glory days.

"We should have Lucy check you out, your little mortal bodies bleed out far too fast." He said, pointing to the blood stain growing at her side.

Andi muttered a curse, great, she was bleeding while in shark infested waters. Azeios did say these monsters didn't want to eat demigods anymore, but she was none the less cautious.

"Who's Lucy?"

"Our shaman, she's a weird bird, but you know that harpies aren't all there to begin with." He chuckled a little.

Andi agreed, the harpies she knew at camp were very weird. And stupid. Hopefully this Lucy was a touch smarter. "This place is pretty cool. Wonder why it's never talked about."

"And why is it so close to Olympus?" Wendy asked as well. Clinging to Andi's unwounded side. "Isn't that a bad idea?"

Azeios grunted. "We try not to let our location get out too much. Some demigods try to find us and think they can wipe us out to get some fame. Idiots end up meeting Charon fast that way. As for why we're in Jersey? Well, as much as being close to Olympus is risky, at least it offers us some protection from other monsters."

"Why would you need protection from other monsters?" Andi asked in confusion.

"Do you think other monsters are happy that we are trying to forge peace with the gods? No. They call us weak and attack us. Only to wind up in Tartarus for their efforts. Still, they take a few of ours in the process. It's a vicious cycle, spawn of Zeus." Azeios said with a tired look. "Some of us here have gotten fed up with the situation and have given up. They even joined up with the rising opposition."

"Granddad and Luke." The demigod frowned.

"Exactly." Azeios pointed a meaty finger at her. "And it's bad, young one. Lil Zeus can't get his head out of his ass to see it and his father is taking advantage of that to the fullest."

Andi balled her fists, upset that her dad was letting all this happen right under his nose while others suffered for it.

"Lucy, you in?" Azeios shouted as they stopped in front of a tree that had a particularly large treehouse perched in its branches.

"Azey? That you?" A shrill voice replied.

"Yes." Azeios called back. "Could you come out? We have a visitor that needs your help."

"What Lulu's help need?" An old black feathered harpy fluttered down. She was wearing a New York Giants jersey. She had one eye that was milky white while the other was beady and black as she looked at Andi. "Not stupid half-blood?"

"No, not a stupid one." Azeios said with a smile.

"Lulu brew fast something." She said as she flapped her wings and went back into her treehouse.

"She seems… nice." Andi surmised her thoughts of the harpy.

"Just pinch your nose when you drink her potion." Azeios advised her cautiously.

"Why?" Wendy asked the giant.

"You'll see, and taste the reason soon enough." The giant quipped dryly with crossed arms.

Wendy took a few steps away from Andi.

The demigod glanced at her. _Traitor._

Lucy came back down with a wooden bowl in her claws, the contents of it looking like green sludge.

"I have to eat that, don't I?" Andi looked at the bowl as it was shoved in her hands.

"Swallow. One big gulp."

The daughter of Zeus let out a sigh as she closed her eyes. "Find your happy place." She pinched her nose and tossed her head back with the bowl against her lips.

Think of the nastiest thing you could have ever eaten. Add a few toe nails, mold, and a gym sock. That's what Andi poured down her throat.

It was all she could do to not gag and spit it all over Lucy's number 11 jersey. The only thing that stopped her was that it would likely offending the harpy and thus likely lead to her getting lynched by the camp's monstrous inhabitants.

As the last of the sludge passed her throat, Andi inhaled sharply and coughed heavily. She looked at Lucy with teary eyes and croaked out. "Thank you."

"Iz alright."

A stinging sensation fluttered across Andi's body as her side burned a little before the pain subsided. Her shoulder, arm, cheek and the other spots where she had been hit by sharnel healed over too. Not even scars were left in the wake of the disgusting miracle tonic working its magic.

"Wow, that really worked." Wendy said with a wide eyed look. She poked Andi's once wounded side, making the girl swat the hand away.

"Stop that."

"We done? Lulu watching for fantasy team." The harpy said, looking eager to get back to her football game.

Andi wasn't going to even ask how they had cable out here.

Azeios shook his head. "The little one's trying to reach her friends, Lulu. Perhaps you can help her with that too."

"Why Lulu do everything, Azey? You do." Lucy stomped her talons into the ground.

"You're better with magic than I am." Azeios said, trying to compliment her. "I could never do what you could after all."

"Hm, Azey is dumb dumb." Lucy nodded in agreement, the giant laughing off the insult. "Fine, Lulu do. But Lulu want more bobbleheads."

The giant nodded with a resigned sigh. "Which team?"

"Cowboys."

"Fine."

Lucy crowed in victory as she grabbed Andi. "Up, we go up."

"Wait, I can get up-" Andi was cut off as she yelped when Lucy pulled her skyward and right into her treehouse.

Wendy followed them, glaring at Lucy heatedly, her hair flickering embers.

"Firebug no light house on fire." Lucy hissed at the Aura.

Wendy crossed her arms, trying to look threatening. "Don't go dragging Andi off like that."

Lucy looked at Andi. "You got dumb dumb too."

Wendy's hair grew brighter at that.

"Take it easy, Wendy. We need her help." Andi tried to calm her friend.

The Aura puffed up her cheeks. "Fine." She said sounding like an upset child. She moved to go sit on a blue beanbag in the corner of the treehouse, trying to not set the place on fire.

Lucy rolled her one good eye. "Me read up thingy quick."

She hopped over to a pile of books in a corner, picking them up one at a time, only to toss them to another corner saying no each time.

Andi looked around the treehouse, the boards creaked under her feet and looked warped. There was a large bowl of popcorn kernels by a little Telly that had rabbit ear antennas which didn't seem to be working too well as the image on the screen kept breaking into static.

In a corner, there was a hotplate under a cauldron that bubbled green, no doubt the miracle sludge. All kinds of gross looking ingredients lay all around it. Spiders, snails, puppydog tails, a dead squirrel, and a funky smelling gym bag with a sock poking out. Seeing this made Andi's stomach churn, forcing her to hold it as she fought against her mounting nausea.

 _Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it._ She chanted in her mind like a mantra.

"I find it!" Lucy said, waving an old tattered scroll that looked about ready to tear apart at her waving. "Telemove magic old, but way better than silly mortal version."

"Can you perform magic?" Wendy squinted her eyes skeptically.

"Can firebug?"

Wendy's eyes looked like a roaring fire as her hair fluttered about wildly in response to her growing agitation.

 _Wow, Wendy's got a real temper on her. Who knew?_ Andi looked surprised at this. She looked towards Lucy and asked. "So how does this work?"

"I dump stuff on you and say words. That all." Lucy told her.

"Do you even know where I'm going to land?" Andi asked her cautiously as she looked at the miracle sludge. She didn't want that dumped on her.

"Up to you. You think it. Lulu just say it."

"Riveting." Andi slumped her shoulders, but stood straight after a moment. "Alright, let's do this. Bring on the miracle sludge."

Lucy raised a crooked brow at her. "Miracle sludge?" She looked at her cauldron. "That my laundry."

 _...Don't think about it, don't think about it, oh dear gods do not even think about it!_

Lucy shuffled over to her cabinet and pulled out a bunch of stuff. There were some flowers, peanuts shells, nuggets of gold, and a vial of what looked like spoiled milk.

"Hold things." She told the demigod, dumping them into the demigod's hands. "Firebug, get off Lulu chair. No want you here anymore."

"Gladly!" Wendy stomped on over to Andi, holding her arm as she glared at Lucy. Even sticking her tongue out at the harpy.

Lucy ignored her as she danced around the duo, grabbing things from Andi's arms as she sprinkled it over the girls. She chanted in Ancient Greek in a very reverent way the entire time, even as she showered peanut shells on Andi's hair and beaned Wendy with a nugget of gold in the forehead.

Lucy grabbed the vial of spoiled milk and smashed it at their feet. "Bye bye."

The girls didn't even get a word out before they disappeared in a whoosh.

* * *

The two girls landed in the middle of a desert. All around them was nothing more than arid ground. The only notable nearby landmark was a lonely mesa a short distance away.

It was quite hot, as expected of a desert.

"This is odd." Wendy noted while looking around cautiously. "It should be at least below freezing this time of year. Something isn't right, Andi."

"Then we need to do some recon." The demigod declared. "The spell was supposed to land us near the questers, so they must be nearby."

"Even so-"

A booming thrill interrupted Wendy as a heat wave washed over them.

Andi turned around slowly and saw a massive phoenix the size of a private jet hovering above them like a blazing sun.

"It wants us to leave its nest alone." Wendy told Andi in a small whimper.

"You can understand what it's saying?" Andi asked in surprise. Wendy nodded. "Play translator, would you?"

"Sure."

Now certain that she could understand what the monster could say, Andi held up her hands. "Hey, uh, nice to meet you. I'm Andi, this is Wendy. We are not here to bother you, or your nest. I promise."

The fire bird trilled once again.

"It says he doesn't care who we are, it just wants us to leave."

That was a problem. "We'd loved to, really, but we gotta kind of meet some friends here. How about we shuffle away a short distance and ignore each other, yeah? We'll be out of your feathers in a jiff."

Phoenix trilled back sounding offended.

"It asks whether you think he's a fool." Wendy translated, sounding uneasy. "He thinks that's the only way that you'd think that he'd believe us."

"Come on! I'm not even trying to attack you! I'm unarmed here and trying to negotiate. That's gotta mean something?"

Phoenix trilled angrily and spread his right wing and pointing off in the distance. Andi didn't need Wendy to translate what he was saying.

"He's saying he doesn't care. He's asking us to leave." Phoenix trilled angrily at this, and Wendy gulped nervously. "He's saying that's his last warning."

"Well we can't leave without missing the questers!" Andi snapped, feeling very irritable. She had been shot at, blown up, drank magical tar, and now some teriyaki was telling her what to do!

So if the fire chicken wanted to throw down that's exactly what she was ready to give it.

"Wendy, Storm Mail!" Andi ordered as she jumped away from Phoenix, anticipating his inevitable attack and wanting to gain some distance.

A wave of fire washed over them and Andi used a burst of air to push herself away from harm and landed softly on the ground in a crouch. Andi transformed Skyline into its bow form and fired off a barrage of wind arrows. They shrieked through the air at the monster, but the Phoenix however simply let out a dismissive trill and disappeared in a burst of flame.

Andi clicked her tongue, as her opponent appeared high in the air. "He can teleport huh? Pointblank it is I guess."

The fire bird swooped down breathing a stream of fire directly at Andi, the demigod evaded the attack and returned fire with another barrage of wind arrows. Phoenix just teleported once more, and Andi swerved to the side instinctively thus barely avoiding the rending talon that slashed at her as her opponent appeared literally right behind her.

She hopped back a few paces, bouncing on her feet. "Man you're a tough bugger."

 _Still, I'm never going to get a solid shot in at this rate. I need one clean shot, a vital one at that._

It flashed away again a twister started to form by Andi's feet. It coiled and spat around her. _Just need to wait and-now!_

The bird teleported in her face once more and slashed at her. Reacting quickly, Andi jumped away while whipping the twister she'd been building right into its face. Strains of wind shot forth from the twister to bind it, while the bulk of the twister spun around it wildly serving as an insurance to keep it in place.

Notching five arrows, Andi took aim right at the bird's head.

Although trapped and only able to send embers flying everywhere as it lightly struggled, the Phoenix didn't seem to be overly perturbed by being caught in Andi's coiling winds, instead it pulled its wings in and gathered its power. After a moment of this, it released its gathered power in a massive explosion that easily tore the twister restraining it apart. The flames did not stop there however as the explosion expanded away from it like a tsunami of flame.

 _Damn!_ Andi thought in awe at the spectacle even as the flames washed over her, her Storm Mail protecting her from the worse of the heat but still leaving her sweating heavily. It left her mouth feeling like sandpaper and she was genuinely worried about dehydration if this battle dragged on too long.

As the intense light of the flaming shockwave faded, Andi looked around and gulped dryly in worry. The whole area had been transformed in the passing of the flames. What was once a cold desert was now a fiery hellscape. The ground was now a blasted, smoking lava field with the occasional open pools of molten lava that bubbled as they released deadly gases. Here and there were volcanoes that spewed out even more lava and burning air. The air had become burning hot and even within her Storm Mail, Andi was suffering from the heat.

Seeing what he had pulled off, Andi had to admit that the Phoenix was a scary monster. Definitely in her top five monster encounters without question.

That just meant that if she wanted to survive this, she needed to end this. Now!

 _But what can I do? I can't hit it if it keeps teleporting. Hell, I can't even capture it and now I have to fight in a fiery wonderland._

The Phoenix wasn't content to give his opponent time to think of a strategy and with another booming thrill, it dive bombed at her.

It spat fireballs at her as it closed, Andi flew into the air to avoid it. The Phoenix pulled up sharply and pursued her while shooting streams of flame and fire balls at her. The daughter of Zeus was sweating even more heavily now, and not just from the heat anymore, as she jinxed through the air to avoid the Phoenix and his attacks.

 _I need a oneshot, something powerful enough to get it to have back off to recover. Wait that's it!_

The daughter of Zeus drew her drakon dagger out and flipped it in a reverse grip. She swiped her sword at the bird of life launching a vacuum blade at it, forcing it to blink away in a blaze of flames once more to evade an arc of wind.

Andi put everything she had in her senses and waited for an opening, she just needed that one window of opportunity.

A flicker of fire caught the corner of her eyes and Andi's twisted her body in that direction. "Sonic Move!" In less than a millisecond, she closed the distance with the monstrous avian in a streak of lightning to reappear right in front of the Phoenix.

She stabbed her dagger right into the plumage of the life bird, ignoring how her eyeballs seemed to be drying up in her skull at the close proximity to his flaming body.

Her blow dealt, Andi hastily made her retreat.

The Phoenix thrashed wildly at this, not even teleporting as the deadly venom coursed through its immortal body. It trilled in agony and suddenly the flaming landscape transformed into a sea of flame that flowed back into its body, leaving behind the original terrain as it was reabsorbed into its body. Despite this though, the Phoenix's agony didn't seem to relent.

Even after reabsorbing all its power, Phoenix was still unable to fight off the poison tearing its inside apart. Still thrashing in terrible pain, the monster fell from the sky like a flaming meteor in a massive impact. As the dust thrown up by the impact cleared, there was no sign of the Phoenix.

"Did I win?" Andi voiced uncertainty as she landed on the ground, breathing a sigh of relief as her feet touched the ground once more.

An annoyed trill sounded from the center of the impact crater had her tensing, her dagger and Skyline raised, ready for a second round. This was met by another trill, this time slightly scared.

"Where is that coming from?"

 _Over there,_ Wendy said in her mind. _In the center of the crater._

There exactly where Wendy said it was, there was a small chick that chirped at her in annoyance as it feebly tried to waddle away. It fell down every so often and was thus forced to roll around as it struggled to get back on its talons, trilling angrily all the while.

Overall, it looked absolutely adorable.

Guilt crashed against Andi's core at seeing the small thing. She felt just like she had after the conclusion of the First Task. Once more she had ruined a creature's life just because she needed to do what needed to be done.

Andi put her weapons away and reached her hand out to the literally blazing Phoenix chick. It looked at her fearfully, futilely spitting pitiful sparks at her palm in warning. Ignoring its flames and even as it pecked at her, she patted its head. She could accept the bird's distrust, the girl deserved it.

"I'm sorry. Really, I am. I-I'll leave you alone now." The daughter of Zeus told the defenseless monster as Wendy released their armor.

Any other demigod would have ended the bird, or found a way to imprison it. But Andi just didn't have it in her.

 _Besides, people tell me I'm abnormal all the time. Why be anything but myself?_ Andi mused as she turned to leave, but some chirping stopped her.

Andi looked over her shoulder to see the little baby phoenix holding one of its large feathers in its beak, waddling towards her. It dropped the feather at her feet and chirped very heatedly.

"He says since you beat him and even went as far to spare him, you deserve this." Wendy translated with a smile on her face, looking very proud of Andi.

The Phoenix chirped again, causing Wendy to go red in the face.

"I can't say that! Geez, uh, to paraphrase, he's still angry at you, but begrudgingly grateful nonetheless."

"How much is that paraphrased?"

"...Ninety percent of it."

Andi just sighed and looked around the once hellish landscape.

"This day's just gone to the birds."

* * *

 **Bam! Another one done! Thanks to Nameless and Axios as usual.**

 **Well, Mr. Dick strikes again. And he's jelly that daddy loves his girls more. Typical daddy issues. Like every other child of Zeus.**

 **Nameless: So Mr. D hates Andi, especially so even in comparison to the average demigod. This is largely because he's jealous of her. Principally about how she's a living demonstration of how Zeus can get away with stretching the rules and helping his demigod children but comes down hard, making it difficult, for other gods to do the same for their half-bloods. A fact especially true for Mr. D who is already on thin ice with him. As for the mention about the twins being in danger? Well, we did mention earlier that all gods can see the future to a degree.**

 **Now I'm sure you guys have noticed that we gave the soldiers from TTC a bit more depth. Because they are in Manhattan, and yes, they blew up a perfectly good Starbucks. The dicks. With the people inside nonetheless! Dicks. So yeah, flashbangs and frag grenades are not Andi's friends and neither were these guys. At least she's started to learn how to imitate the Assassins of Assassin's Creed fame. But I've gotta be frank, that scene made me pull my hair out. Appreciate the hard work we put into that scene folks. Mainly thank Nameless for knowing a lot about military tactics.**

 **Nameless: I hope you liked how we had the mercenaries measure up against a demigod. They were pretty successful, no? Given a little better preparation, they could probably have killed Andi. Especially since they caught her in an ambush. Now imagine how that would have gone against a less powerful demigod. I hope you can see why Atlas recruited them.**

 **Now the monster camp, that was a nice little idea that we toyed with until we found a good monster leader. Then I stumbled upon Azeios, a giant from the first Titanomachy. So I thought we'd play a bit loose with him and use him right. Peaceful monsters guys! If Tyson can do it, someone else did it before it was cool. Also, #LucyBestMon, be wary of her crazed football skillz! I just had a blast writing her. Plus, this gives Andi some perspective on things. Like with the dragon, and especially with how it played for the following scene.**

 **Nameless: The neutral monsters are basically a critique of the very simplistic view of monsters that most Campers have. That is to say, "All monsters are bad!" In fact, they are a critique of a lot of stereotypes that Campers have in regards to monsters. Like how Lucy, a harpy, is a competent (if crazy) magic user even though harpies are generally thought to birdbrained. But of course things aren't that simple. Even here among this camp of neutral monsters, the unhappiness with Olympus has grown and Kronos' reach can be felt.**

 **Punny. And now for another feathered issue. The Phoenix! Another thing I had wanted to do for Andi for a while. Looks like Andi's got a feather to put into her hat. Or maybe some of you know what a phoenix feather means.**

 **Nameless: Originally, we wanted this fight to take place in the Smithsonian alongside the questers fighting the Nemean Lion, but we eventually decided against it. We felt that doing so would make this story just follow the stations of canon, so we changed things to something more original.**

 **Like D said, Andi is an extra. And that is us acknowledging this. So! We did our best to avoid this and branch off into Andi's own little story and adventure, hope you enjoy that folks.**

 **Anyways! Smash that review button and tell us what you loved! Now no flames, we've had plenty in this chapter already, enjoy the fic and peace off!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.**

 **The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans**

 **Chapter Eleven: Make or Break the Titan's Back**

 **Beta: ShadowofAxios**

* * *

Andi marveled at the large glowing feather as she twirled it between her fingers. A warmth came from it that drove away the chill of the nippy desert night.

"So this thing has healing properties?" She asked Wendy as they both kept a wide berth from the direction the Phoenix chick had waddled off towards, presumably on it's way back to it's nest.

Wendy nodded her head eagerly. "Oh yes! The Phoenix's regenerative powers are legendary for a reason. From its tears to its feathers, every part of it has incredible healing power. This is an amazing spoil of war, Andi. You could heal anyone with this! Even if they were on the brink of death!"

Andi wrinkled her nose. "That sounds like it'd piss my Uncle Hades off. One of them already doesn't like me. I'd rather not irk the other."

"Knowing how often you get hurt-"

"Hey!"

"-It's best you keep it on your person." Wendy said in a lecturing pose.

Andi grew flustered. "I'm not that bad…"

"Andi?" A shocked voice called out from the distance.

Andi turned towards the voice and was pleased to see the questers that she'd set out on this increasingly crappy mission to meet up with.

"Finally!" She tossed her arms in the air, along with her new feather. "Do you know how hard it is to find a group with nothing but them being in the 'west' as your only clue? Annoyingly so, that's what."

In her excitement, the youngest daughter of Zeus literally skipped over towards the questers. She easily recognized Percy, Grover, and Thalia. They all looked somewhat scuffed up but generally looked okay. Percy was even sporting a rather flashy duster of all things.

The other two questers were clearly hunters.

One she recognized as Bianca. Even under all the trappings of being a Hunter, the silver ski jacket, blue jeans and black combat boots, she looked exactly the same as when she had last seen the girl. The look suited her though, her long dark hair was now in a braid that framed her face well. It served to draw attention to the fetching splash of freckles across her nose and her black eyes. She also had a silvery aura around her now, like moonbeams or something.

The last one looked like some Persian princess. She wore the same garb as Bianca, but also had a silver tiara on her head and carried herself with confidence. Huh, Nico was right, she did look snooty.

"Why do you have a big feather fan?" Percy asked in his typical way of paying attention to the irrelevant minor details.

"Why do you look like you strolled out of the Wild West?" Andi retorted.

"Fair point."

"I'm sorry, but is he always this stupid?" Wendy abruptly asked, looking offended on either Andi's or the Phoenix's behalf. "How can he not recognise what this feather is!?"

"Thee gets used to it." The tiara wearing Hunter said. "A most unfortunate thing indeed."

Andi ignored the byplay for a moment, she already knew how much of a feather brain Percy could be at times. Instead she decided it was time to put away the Phoenix feather, she wasn't going to carry it around with her the whole time.

Andi turned to the Aura. "Wendy, come here please. I need your hair."

Wendy compiled and turned around. The daughter of Zeus pinned the large feather into the Aura's own fiery hair, making it glow slightly brighter.

Andi smiled, her hands on her hips. "I hope it's ok. I'm not good with fashion."

Wendy played with it, looking flustered at such a gift. "Thank you."

"Just keep it safe for me, Red. Gods know I'd lose it with my luck."

"I'm sorry, but can we focus on the fiery hellscape we just saw a few minutes ago!" Grover cut in, being the straight man that he was.

"Cleary Zeus' youngest engaged with the avian of life, the Phoenix, and bested it." The Hunter said, clearly impressed. "We have not met before, young one, but have you considered joining the Hunters? I am Zoë, Lieutenant of Artemis."

"Oh gods, here we go. So typical! Can you give it a rest, Nightshade?" Thalia rolled her eyes at the hunter, before turning an angry glare at Andi. "And you! What are you doing here, you brat?"

"I don't know," Andi shot back angrily. After the shitty day she'd had so far, she had no patience for Thalia's bullshit. "A goddess is kidnapped, and a good friend of mine is missing. Geez, I do wonder why I could be here!"

Thalia looked a little surprised that Andi had stood up for herself, but recovered quickly and continued to needle Andi. "Well, we don't need your help. So buzz off."

"Aw, too bad. So sad. Suck it up." Andi scoffed at her and turned to Percy, jabbing a finger into his chest. "And you! You didn't even I.M. me about Bethy going missing. You got cotton in your brain or what?"

"I was kinda preoccupied." Percy said, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. "There was this thing with a sea cow, and it was all downhill from there."

"Thee cameth here without permission like the _boy_?" Zoë cut into this conversation like a icy blade.

"Yes."

The lieutenant of Artemis frowned and shot a look between Percy and Andi. "I see. I revoke mine own earlier invitation. Thee has skill, but the hunters hast no room for one who disrespects authority so. It'll only serve to hath her comrades killed."

Andi took a deep breath and ignored the barb. "Yes, I'm a walking troublemaker. I'm sorry for existing."

"Um?" Bianca raised her hand, like she was in class. "Don't we have a quest?"

"Bianca's right, let's walk and talk." Andi hopped on that bandwagon, she very much wanted to get away from getting chided by someone else today.

The others nodded in agreement at Andi's suggestion and set off again, the champion of Hecate and her partner falling into step with them.

"Wait, where are we going?"

"The junkyard of the gods. How did you even get here?" Grover asked as he fiddled with his pipes.

"Well, I learned about Annie being missing, so I headed back to Camp to help."

"And the wizards-" The satyr asked worriedly.

"Ida's covering for me." Andi explained. "Anyways, after that I got stuck in Camp for a while, but I snuck out." Thalia snorted at this, while Zoë shook her head disapprovingly. "I ran into some trouble but I eventually made it to Manhattan and ran into Lady Aphrodite-"

"Funny, we just ran into her on a date with Ares." Percy snorted.

"So that's what she meant about a date." Andi shuddered. "Brain bleach!"

"Used it all already."

"Damn you. Anyway, she told me to head to Jersey. Met some folks there that really helped me out." Andi looked nervous at this. "Before that though, I had a run in with some mortal soldiers."

That garnered everyone's attention.

"Black military types with real scary guns?" Grover gulped.

"Yeah."

"We ran into some of those guys in Maine." Thalia clicked her tongue in annoyance. "They've teamed up with the Titans. They weren't that much of a problem though."

"Seriously?" Andi drawled. "What gave you that impression? They exploded me in a Starbucks. With people inside!"

Zoë showed concern at this. "Blast it all. Curse these greedy mortal men. Of course our foes wouldst employeth such scum."

"So? Sure we had a little trouble with them in Westover Hall, but we can take them." Percy shrugged. "I mean, we've got superpowers."

Andi's glare made him pause in his step as she hissed at him. "So do I Percy! That was until I got a flashbang to the face and fragged! You ever get hit by shrapnel? It's not fun!"

"I can never look at a pineapple the same way ever again." Wendy shuddered in fear, clinging close to Andi.

"Pardon my manners for not greeting you sooner. It is a pleasure to meeteth thee, young one." The older hunter greeted, before turning to Andi. "Wherefore doth thee hast an Aura with thee?" Zoë asked, looking curiously at the wind spirit. "Didst she cometh to thy aid against Phoenix?"

"This is Wendy, she's my partner. She's been helping me out for a few weeks now."

"Hello." Wendy waved at everyone. Though she did give Thalia a raspberry.

Blue static flashed in Thalia's hand at that.

"About these mortal soldiers, Andromeda is correct." Zoë stated firmly, ignoring the interaction. "While vile, these _men_ art trained militia. A bane to you foolish heroes. Blades doeth little to counter a bullet between thine eyes."

"I managed to take out a bunch of them before they spooked at the sound of the NYPD." Andi told the group.

Zoë once again had an impressed look on her face, shooting Andi a thoughtful look even as she whispered under her breath. "Perhaps the recklessness can be trained out of her?"

"Take out?" Grover asked curiously.

"...Killed." Andi shifted a little as she looked down at her feet. She wasn't particularly proud of the blood on her hands, but survival came first and foremost to her. "There was at least a dozen on me, snipers too. They had me cornered. I had little choice."

Bianca looked aghast at Andi's admission. Even Percy and Grover looked a little uneasy too. Thalia just snorted in disgust. Only Zoë looked understanding.

"It wast the best choice thou couldst maketh in yond situation." Zoe looked at the rest, a chiding look on her face. "Doth not scorn her choice, if it wast thee, wouldn't thou doth the same? Wouldn't thee hast done the utmost to survive? She hadst done better than most wouldst. "

"Say that again!" Thalia snapped at Zoë.

Zoë simply raised a brow. "She did deal with the situation better than thou wouldst hast. Thy klutziness with thy shield is most obvious."

The youngest child of Zeus was unsure how she felt over Zoë's compliment on her surviving her encounter with the gunmen. She didn't feel special about it. All that she hoped for was that she didn't run into those guys ever again.

Percy looked grumpy at this. "At least you didn't have to deal with undead warriors."

"Oh gods, what did you do to piss off Uncle Hades?"

"Nothing!" Percy's face turned red, probably upset at the accusation. "These guys were summoned by the General. He grew them out of teeth."

"Dragon teeth?" Andi asked in surprise.

"Uh, yeah."

 _So just like the ones from the story of the Fleece!_ Andi hummed at this. "You guys hit them with a purification spell?"

"None of us art practitioners of the arcane." Zoë told her. "Except for thee. Now."

"Oh, I thought since you were Artemis' top gal, you'd know some of the trade."

"I hast nay needeth for the art of magic." The elder hunter dismissed. "Arts of the hunt art all I require."

"Well, if we run into them again, I think I might be able to take them out."

"You and Bianca can deal with them together." Percy observed. "She's already took out one by herself."

"For real? Wow, you go girl!" The excitable pint sized heroine said. "How'd you do it?"

"I-I don't know." Bianca said, hunkering down into her ski jacket as everyone's eyes turned to her.

"Hm, maybe she's related to a death deity?" Andi hummed in thought, tapping her lips with a finger. "Like Hecate, Thanatos, or even maybe Uncle Hades. Oh, that'd be cool! We'd be cousins!"

"Let's not get into that." Thalia grunted. "If you let her, she'll be so ridiculously clingy that you'll want to stab her. I know from experience."

Andi glared at Thalia for that, looking ready to give her own 'stabbing' comment in return.

Sadly, Percy squeezed between them and held up his hands. "Guys, give your regular spats a break for now. We've gotta focus on saving Artemis and Annabeth."

The sisters glared at one another and huffed, looking away from each other.

The youngest daughter of Zeus was surprised with just how little Thalia's words stung now. She had become pretty numb to the constant barbs.

After all the drama she had dealt with so far today, Thalia was nothing but a nuisance. Barely worth her notice. But Andi wasn't up to taking anymore crap in general, not even from her sister.

If Thalia wanted to bully her? The young witch was more than willing to give her a black eye in response.

"So Andi," Percy asked leaning in to whisper to her, clearly trying to distract her. "You mentioned you had some trouble on the way to Manhattan. That means D caught you too?"

"Yeah." Andi admitted, looking down as she did. "Apparently he hates my utter existence."

"He thinks Andi is being spoiled by Lord Zeus." Wendy added, sounding worried.

"Wow, he just hates me for being a hero." Percy blinked and patted her shoulder. "Tough break."

"Yeah, I'll just roll with it for now." She smiled up at him a little, even as she wanted to kick him in the shin. Percy _didn't_ know what he was talking about. He didn't know a damn thing about what it meant to have a god truly and utterly loathe him.

Not even Ares hated the both of them to this level.

Feeling like she would strangle him if she kept talking to the ignorant Percy, Andi decided it was to time to talk to someone else. Looking around, she spotted Bianca trailing at the back of the group radiating unease.

Frowning, Andi decided it was time to catch up with her old friend.

"So, turns out gods are a real thing. Who knew right?"

Bianca cracked a weak smile. "Yeah, that was a shocker. Even more so when Nico and I found out about you. We kind of recognized Percy from the Lotus."

The daughter of Zeus looked sad. "I'm sorry we left you there, just, we were in such a rush to stop World War III, and I didn't even- I'm a terrible friend, Bianca. Hope you can forgive me."

"Hey hey hey, it's not your fault." The young hunter hurriedly said to her.

"It's not like it you could have helped her, Andi." Wendy added in comfortingly. "No one gets out of the Lotus without some godly help. You had help from Ares and your grandfather. " The young Aura shuddered at the mere mention of the dread Titan King. "So don't blame yourself."

"Then how did Nico and I get out?"

"Your godly parent decided to do something?" Wendy offered with a shrug.

"But why wait so long?" Bianca asked, sounding hurt. "It was seventy years!"

"Maybe they had a good reason?" The witch suggested. "I'm not sure, I'm not a god after all. They tend to do whatever's in their best interests, not ours. How are _you_ adjusting to all this though? It's a bit of a shift in perspective."

Bianca played with her braid, "It's an adjustment. The girls in the Hunt explained a lot of things to me. But it's still overwhelming to be honest."

"It was for me at first too." Andi agreed. "But you'll get used to it."

Bianca nodded uncertainly. "I guess. So what do you think about the Hunt?"

 _Is Bianca questioning her decision?_ Andi mused as she eyed her nervous looking friend searchingly. _Should I be honest? Would it offend Artemis if I was? Oh, heck it._

"They invited me to join them twice, actually three times counting Zoë from earlier." Andi thought back. "But it's not for me. While an all girls club sounds cool, with how they act? I'm not all that impressed by them. To me, they are- Err, what's the word? Femnazis? Yeah, I'm not a real femnazi."

Bianca looked like she wanted to defend her new friends, but had a stumped look on her face. Like she didn't even know what to say. Instead, she asked Andi. "When did they invite you the first time?"

"Oh, it was actually last Christmas. Bethy, Will, and I went to England and I slew this big boar that burped lightning."

"We ran into a big boar earlier!" Bianca pointed out.

"Bianca is speaking of the Erymanthian Boar." Zoë informed at hearing her young recruit's exclamation. "Andromeda hadst bested the beast of our lady, the Calydonian Boar. A noble swine. A worthy opponent."

"Oh! Wow." Bianca whistled in awe.

"Indeed." Zoë acknowledged. "But we can speak of this later. We art here."

"Where is _here_ exactly?" Andi asked. "What's this junkyard of the gods?"

Before them was a mesa surrounded by junk that glinted in the moonlight. The whole place was full of broken heads of bronze horses, metal legs from human statues, smashed chariots, tons of shields and swords and other weapons, along with more modern stuff, like cars that gleamed gold and silver, refrigerators, washing machines, and computer monitors. You name it, and it was there.

"It's where the gods, Hephaestus mainly, dumps their rubbish." Grover explained helpfully, gesturing at the piles of junk. "The usual trash, broken appliances, failed prototypes. Those kind of things."

"Great, another place belonging to the smith god. Hope it doesn't try to kill me like last time-and I just jinxed it. Shite." Andi palmed her face. Hard.

"Way to go, Andi."

"Zip it, goat boy. Let's just climb over this heap of garbage."

* * *

As Andi picked through the junkyard alongside the others, she couldn't help but be on edge. Even more so than the others, she still vividly remembered the Battle-Cano and was wary of a repeat. That combined with her superior eyesight was what allowed her to spot the faint distortions in the air out of the corner of her eye.

Her bow was in her hands in a moment, an arrow drawn as she spun around towards the distortion.

"Andi?" Percy asked, seeing her tense.

"We're not alone." The witch claimed, everyone tensing at her words.

"Be on thine guard." Zoë ordered, drawing her celestial bronze knives. "Spread out and alert the rest of us if thee findeth something."

"I thought you don't split up at times like this? It never ends well in the movies."

"Tis not a movie, Satyr." The hunter shot back. "But stayeth in pairs."

The questers separated, Andi with Wendy in tow climbed over a small mound of silver plates and lunchbox memorabilia. She had just slid down the slope on the other side, when she heard a faint clicking noise.

"Andromeda Potter." A familiar, annoying voice breathed out in surprise from nowhere. "Fancy seeing you here."

Andi withheld a groan. She knew that voice all too well. "GLaDOS the yammering AI. My utmost pleasure to hear you again."

"I'm amazed you still function, I thought you'd have killed yourself by now."

"I'm sorta the tenacious type." Andi quipped, her voice tight.

"Andi?" Wendy asked warily. "Who are you talking to?"

"An acquaintance, if I'm being generous."

"She's invisible?"

"Lo-"

"Of course, I am." GLaDOS replied sounding insulted. "Or at least this drone is. I'd never be able to scavenge the gods' refuge otherwise. If nothing else, the Olympians are good with protecting against thieves."

"You know, I've really wanted to get some payback for the attack on camp just to get you out of the attic." Andi's grip on her bow tightened as she glared in the direction of the voice.

"Chell might have went a little overboard with that." GLaDOS agreed, to Andi's surprise. "She was so desperate to free me-"

"That's no excuse." Andi hissed angrily.

"I suppose not."

"So how about showing yourself? Let me get some payback." Andi suggested in a faux kind tone. "I promise I'll forgive you after I wreck whatever tin can you're using now."

Andi mentally crossed her fingers the whole time.

"I think not. It would be a waste to allow a perfectly good drone to be destroyed just to sate your need for wanton destruc-." The AI paused mid-sentence, before continuing in an amused tone. "The security system was just activated. One of your friends must have taken something."

"What?" Andi exclaimed in concern as she turned in the direction she'd come.

"I guess it's time I pay back the favor for freeing me from Hephaestus' forge." The AI said, sounding resigned.

"What do you me-"

Just then two things happened very quickly. Firstly, the ground suddenly began shaking violently as in the distance Andi saw what looked like a massive metal man stand up. The daughter of Zeus barely noticed that though as she was more concerned with the second thing, since it was happening right in front of her.

Suddenly, the area she was in front of shimmered to reveal a strange vaguely insect like machine with a pair of large pincers on either side of a vicious looking maw and a frill around most of its body that was held in place by a set of bladed limbs that moved up and down seemingly at random. The thing's strangeness was topped off by it hovering a few inches off the ground all whilst giving a barely audible, even by Andi's superhuman hearing, hum. The machine dropped the piece of what looked like scrap it was clutching in its pincers and grabbed hold of a surprised Andi.

"Andi!" The demigod heard Wendy shout just as the daughter of Zeus and the machine were consumed by a flash of light.

* * *

As the light died down, Andi was no longer in the junkyard.

Instead it looked like she was in some kind of foundry. The whole place was boiling hot and there was molten metal everywhere. Smelting units were all around her, with the liquified metal being poured here and there as conveyor belts carried junk in every which direction. With dozens of the strange drones carrying all manner of stuff around all over the place.

"There, we're even." GLaDOS declared as her drone released the daughter of Zeus. For her part, Andi didn't waste any time, she immediately changed Skyline into its sword form and swung it down on the insectoid machine's head. It cracked open easily, sending sparks and various electronics flying everywhere.

Everything in the foundry stopped as the drone dropped to the ground from its hover, clearly disabled.

"Is this how you repay my kindness, daughter of Zeus?" GLaDOS shouted from all around her, sounding furious.

 _Oh shut up!_ Andi thought to herself angrily. Right then, all she could really wanted was to just rip out the mechanical bint's voice module!

She glared all around her. "Where am I?!"

Andi's answer was alarms going off, red warning lights spinning all over the place and the drones putting down whatever they were carrying and charging at her, their pincers clicking aggressively.

She fired an air bomb arrow right in the heart of the nearest group, reducing them to scrap.

GLaDOS gave a furious roar that echoed from all around her, even as more of the machines appeared. With even more of them handing in her direction, presumably streaming in from throughout the entire factory.

The demigod began to flee down a hallway. There was no way she'd stand and fight in a place like this. The crazy AI was no doubt building her forces here. _Like bloody hell I'm sticking around here. Now where's a damn exit? Those things might have gone down easily, but I'm not waiting for whatever other surprises this bint's got up her servo._

Andi ran down the hallway, hoping to find an exit from this place. It was the second time she was teleported right into hostile territory today and she was getting tired of it.

 _FML, just screw it all!_ Andi gripped on her terrible, terrible luck. "What the shite Fates?"

Thankfully, the insect like drones were slow things and it was easy for Andi to keep ahead of them.

Unfortunately, for the daughter of Zeus things rarely ever went well for her. She was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when she heard rapid metallic footfalls, dozens of pounding noises that filled her ears as she looked ahead.

 _You have got to be kidding me!_

It was like that movie with the dinosaurs. Charging in her direction, were dozens of knee high skeletal veloci-somethings, with deadly looking enlarged claws and menacing glowing red eyes. They were tiny but the machines looked very dangerous indeed. Especially, as they breathed gouts of fire occasionally while advancing on her.

"And now fucking dinosaurs!" The frustrated daughter of the skies complained as she saw her latest enemy. "That's it, tell the world I wanna get off! I demand a refund!"

Andi aimed her bow, bombing the center of group. While the blast of air got a few of them, these dinos seemed to have been made of sterner stuff than the insectoids. This meant that there were still plenty of the dino machines. Something they exploited by breathing fire in tandem, creating a massive wall of fire that flew Andi's way.

Andi took a step back at this, prepared to counter with a wall of air, but the clicking noise behind her stopped that idea. She was in a literal pincer. Without many options, the daughter of Zeus did something reckless once again.

Cocooning herself in spiraling winds, Andi dove right through the attack.

The moment she broke through, she felt something cold and heavy slam into her, throwing her into a wall and beginning to claw at her. Her cocoon of air offered her some protection but it was no Storm Mail and the dino-machine that had jumped at her began leaving deep cuts with its claws.

Even as its fellows moved to capitalise on her weakness, Andi acted. Summoning her powers, she unleashed an explosion of air that sent all the enemies around her flying.

Jumping to her feet before they recovered, she took off in a run.

Andi winced at the cuts along her side and legs, but she ignored it. It was nothing life threatening and her pain tolerance was very good.

 _Aren't these places supposed to have exit signs or something? So much for keeping up to-Hello!_ Andi paused her mental rant as she rounded a corner and spotted just what she wanted to see, an exit sign pointing to the left.

Deciding that Tyche was finally giving her a break, she dutifully turned left and found herself in a big empty room. Where on the opposite side in big bold letters read "EXIT" in bright red neon.

"Yes." Andi pumped her fist and ran towards it, only for a flash of light to halt her in her tracks.

The light faded to reveal a young woman in her mid twenties. She had dark brown hair in a small ponytail, pale blue eyes, and light brown skin. She wore an orange jumpsuit with the upper part folded down and tied around her waist, revealing a white tanktop drenched in sweat and a choker adorned with a huge ruby. She had a white wristband on her right wrist, and held a odd looking white and black gun.

The weapon had a large transparent barrel that contained what looked like a blue star. Its muzzle was bracketed by two pairs of claw like arms, one below and the other above. It looked similar to the guns that had been used by the droid that attacked Camp, so it put Andi on edge. Even more so with what was behind the woman.

Milling about behind her like a pack of overeager children were a half dozen minivan sized light blue drones. They looked vaguely insectoid but not like the scavenger machines from earlier, these looked more like spiders. Each machine had four "eyes" fitted on the surface of their bodies. Three are on the "head", with the last beneath the abdomen that Andi spotted as they fidgeted. They had four legs that ended in wheeled footpads and two arms. It was what was mounted on those arms that gave Andi pause.

One was armed with an obvious flamethrower from the muzzle of which a small flame burned.

Another was equipped with some kinda freeze ray, if the frost coating the gun was anything to go by.

Yet another had something that sparked with electricity occasionally. That one didn't really worry Andi much, she was immune to electricity after all.

The others had weapons that Andi couldn't guess at but considering what she knew about her opposition, they would undoubtedly be nasty surprises.

"Hi." Andi said to break the silence that had fallen over the room.

"Hello!" All of the big drones said, waving at her merrily.

You know, for a bunch of killer looking robots, they were kind of cute.

The woman just rolled her eyes in fond exasperation, before stepping forward to address Andi.

"Greetings Potter, my name is Chell Johnson and I must ask you to surrender." The woman 'said', her voice coming from her choker where the ruby flashed with crimson light as she 'spoke'.

"Question, if I surrender, I die right?"

"No," The woman countered. "You'll just be handed over to the Titans as a prisoner."

"Which means I'm as good as dead. So I'm not really going to surrender if that's the case!" Andi affirmed.

"Do you really think you have a choice?" The enemy asked gesturing towards the swarm of dino and scavenger machines that Andi had only now noticed had filled up the hallway behind her.

"Well, shite."

The big spider drones gasped at this, one of them whispering out fearfully. "You used a dirty word!"

"Mummy Chell is gonna spank you!" Another warned shaking its large gun for an arm in a chiding gesture.

"I'll have to decline that." Andi smiled weakly as she took a few steps back.

Chell for her part just blushed lightly at her creations' unintended innuendo.

"Stop teasing my daughter, Potter." GLaDOS said, her voice once more echoing from all around her.

"Mother, I can handle this." Chell sad blushing even more furiously.

GLaDOS' only reply was a burst of static, one that seemed distinctly disgruntled.

Coughing to regain Andi's attention, Chell spoke without any hint of her previous embarrassment. "As I was saying before we got sidetracked. Do you really think you have any option besides surrender, Potter?"

"Sure!" Andi replied with false cheer, doing her best to hide her nerves. "I can always do this!"

With that exclamation, the daughter of Zeus aimed her bow to the side of the room and fired three air bombs right at it. The powerful blasts badly damaged the wall, causing concrete and metal to cave in, but after the dust settled the wall still stood.

"...It's reinforced, isn't it?" Andi's shoulders slacked a little.

Chell nodded.

"FML, FML, FML." The younger demigod chanted underneath her breath. She backed away towards the tunnel she had come from. Only to stop as the drones there clacked their claws and pincers at her threateningly.

"Tachikomas, capture her." Chell ordered sternly while the now named Tachikomas whooped with glee and advanced on the child of Zeus. For a moment, Andi looked between the two armies of machines looking defeated but she couldn't keep the front up long.

"Sonic Move!" Andi declared with a smirk and streaked right past the drones. She headed right for the door behind Chell, only to go through a blue portal that had suddenly replaced the door. This caused her to come out from a red portal that had opened up on the ceiling, leading her to end up right in the middle of the room again.

She looked towards Chell, seeing her smirk as she patted her freaky looking toy. "Nice try, but you can't escape."

"Don't say I can't, because that will just encourage me to prove you wrong." Andi told her with a tense smile as her eyes looked everywhere for another possible escape route. They landed on the Tachimahosits, who were sporting those scary looking weapons.

"Please don't shoot me!" Andi pleaded with as much terror as she could put into her voice while stepping towards the wall she had tried to destroy earlier.

"You're scared of our guns?" One of the drones said as it charged up its electrical gun, lightning arcing up and down the barrel. "Well, eat this!"

Chell's eyes widened. "No!"

It was too late, the gun fired just as Andi Sonic Moved out of the way. Andi didn't know what the thing was, she'd thought it was some kinda tesla weapon. But that obviously wasn't it. Instead the gun fired some kind of energy beam that tore through the air before impacting the wall and leaving a gaping hole.

One big enough for a Hummer to drive through, or rather, a petite demigod to escape from.

"Thanks for lacking common sense, bye! Sonic Move." Andi bolted right out of the foundry, and out into the city beyond.

* * *

The daughter of Zeus blitzed through the streets of the city she found herself in. She pulled off at least three Sonic Moves before she felt she had put enough distance from the foundry and finally came to a stop to figure out her current location.

All around her were cars and trolleys zipping by, going through the ascending and descending slopes of the area. Buildings of multiples sizes stretched out into the distance making up a beautiful skyline. It was populated by dozens of early birds, it was still only early morning, that were walking about on their way to work, some errand or other business. Andi herself was currently in something of a small alley between two buildings and looking out onto a moderately busy street.

Stepping out onto the sidewalk and looking off into the distance, Andi spotted the iconic Golden Gate Bridge.

"So I'm in San Francisco." She nodded to herself. Alright, she was on course! Now she just had to find some way to regroup with the others and-

Just then a sound of an electrical discharge caught her attention, and the daughter of Zeus looked up to see a golden drone hovering above her. It had a cylindrical body that had three fins that rotated around it and which ended in a single red "eye" that was glowing ominously.

On reflex, Andi fired some arrows at it. However, she was an instant slower than the machine and it managed to discharge a beam of red light that burned her right arm badly and caused her to almost drop her bow from the pain. Thankfully, her arrows filled the laser toting drone full of holes thus preventing it from capitalising on her weakness.

Unfortunately, the drone's attack was just a distraction. Even as it died, flashes of white light filled the street around her. They faded to reveal the entire posse of those Tachiwhatsit things.

"Fuck all kinds of duck, for real." Andi scrambled for her bow, grabbing it as she ducked under a ray of frost. The beam shot pass her and out into a street, hitting a passing car. The automobile flipped as ice swiftly encased it. To make matters worse, the impact with the ground proved hard enough that it and it's equally frozen occupants broke apart into chunks.

"What are you doing!" Andi shouted in shock, glaring at the freeze ray wielding machine. "You just killed those mortals!"

"You ducked." Chell's voice replied from the same drone. "It wouldn't have hurt you, much. Them? Well, results speak for themselves."

"They're not a part of this!" Andi cried out as screams of panic filled the streets.

Chell's only response was to issue a chilling order to her children. "Hit that cluster of _sheep_."

"You got it mommy!" A Tachi-thing said as it released a gout of flames towards a group of fleeing mortals.

"NO!" Andi roared in fury and created a wall of air that blocked the fire. Only to gave her leg grazed by a laser from another of the machines, forcing the younger demigod to a knee.

"You heroes are so typical. Why waste your life for them when you could have fled."

Andi glared heatedly at the drone Chell spoke from, her electric blue eyes glowing. "I value human life, unlike you!"

"And it's led to your downfall. Surrender or I'll roast as many little mortals as I wish."

Andi hesitated, she knew surrendering would probably lead to some pretty terrible stuff for her. Probably torture and likely death. As much as she wanted to save the mortals, the prospect of that gave her pause.

Her monster of a opponent was not about to let her have time to think however.

"Fire the railgun."

"Yay! I get to have fun too!" One of the drones equipped with a gun with a particularly long barrel declared cheerfully as it aimed the weapon at a skyscraper off in the distance.

The daughter of Zeus' eyes widened. "No please-!"

The drone fired the railgun, sending a streak of energy flying through the sky that closed with its target in an instant. The attack blasted a massive hole through the building, apparently destroying some of its important structural supports in the process and causing the tower to begin to collapse.

Intense heat washed over her as part of the weapon's discharge, but Andi didn't even notice. She was too strongly gripped by horror as she saw the building come down. She raised her hand, trying in vain to maybe slow the debris' descent, but she only had weapons aimed at her for the trouble.

"Now now, watch the show. Don't ruin it."

Andi's knuckles turned white at this. "What the bleedin' hell, woman! Just stop! I give up, just stop this!" She hung her head, feeling ashamed, scared, and dozens of other things.

A broken laugh met her surrender. It sounded terrible, like it came from someone whose throat had been torn out or badly burned. It was utterly inhuman. With a chill down her spine, Andi realized that this was Chell's natural voice not the one created by the vocal synthesizer she wore.

"Mommy has a nice laugh." One of the Tachithingys commented as it moved to restrain Andi, the others all nodding or making agreeing noises.

"Thank you sweeties," Chell replied sounding maternal. "Now secure the prisoner."

"Yes mommy!"

The lead drone was just reaching out to grab Andi with the one arm that didn't have a gun, the freeze ray, grafted to it when a way cry rent the air.

"Hippogriff Express!"

As one the Tachimagigs all looked up. Only to be bulldozed by a duo of angry Hippogriffs pulling a war chariot.

Specifically, Andi's war chariot.

With Wendy at the reins!

"Silver, Quill?" Andi asked in surprise as Silver plucked her from the ground by his talons, even as Wendy pulled up hard on the reins and the chariot flew up into the air.

Blasts of fire, ice, plasma and beams of lasers and unidentifiable energies fired up at them. Wendy skillfully evaded the attacks. The robots were indiscriminate in their shots though and more than one building was clipped by their deadly fire.

"Pull up! Wendy, pull up!" Andi screamed. "Take us above the city!"

Andi might still be afraid of heights but she'd much rather deal with that than the guilt of being the cause of more deaths.

"Roger!" Wendy replied as she once more pulled hard on the reins, pulling them into a hard climb trailed by an unrelenting barrage of fire from the enemies below.

Even that petered away though as they flew above the clouds and apparently the range of the drones' weapons.

As they entered relative safety, Wendy heaved a sigh of relief. "I think we're all clear."

"Looks like." Andi agreed as she relaxed a little too.

They all took a minute to calm their nerves, before a mischievous twinkle entered Wendy's eyes.

"Mr. Silver, fling her aboard!" The Aura ordered with a smirk.

"Wai-" Andi cried in protest, but was ignored as the hippogriff obeyed, tossing the demigoddess above them.

Andi let out a short scream at being suddenly girlhandled by her hippogriff friend but calmed down as Wendy's winds wrapped around her and pulled her into the chariot cab.

"Thank you, Mr. Silver."

Ticked off with being thrown around like a beanbag, Andi reached over to smack Wendy lightly on the arm in protest. Unfortunately, this pulled on her wounds and elicited a wince from the girl.

"Ow."

"This is why I told you to keep the feather _with_ you." Wendy scolded her as she tied the reins to the chariot. "Mr. Quill, the flightpath is yours!"

Quill squeaked in affirmation.

"Not the time Wendy," The daughter of Zeus grunted. "More healing, less scolding!"

Wendy nodded. "I will refrain for now, but I reserve the right to do so later."

"Permission granted."

The Aura untied the feather from her hair and laid it against Andi's wounded arm. Closing her eyes to concentrate, Wendy channeled her power through the feather, her fiery tresses glowing as she did so.

Steam hissed from the wounded limb, the burn sizzling as it was replaced by unblemished skin while her many scratches faded away. Wendy opened her eyes, seeing her first attempt was a success and cheered. "Wonderful! Now for the leg."

She repeated the process and in mere moments, Andi was combat ready once more.

"That thing rocks." Andi marveled as she poked her once burned arm. "So now that I'm all healed up, mind explaining how you found me?"

"Well, after getting separated in the junkyard," Wendy gained a solemn look at this, "I used our connection to track you down, running into Silver and Quill along the way."

 _We thought she was violating our territory so we confronted her._ Quill helpfully picked up the story. _But once we heard what had happened we immediately volunteered to help._

 _Yup._ Silver chimed in. _Even brought along your chariot just in case._

"Thanks a bunch guys." Andi said sincerely. "I really appreciate it."

 _Not a problem!_

 _Anytime._

"I'm your partner, of course I'd come save you." Wendy said pouting a little, seemingly hurt that Andi seemed to think she wouldn't do so.

"I know you would," Andi said ruffling Wendy's hair affectionately. "I'm still grateful though."

The Aura smiled at that. Satisfied that she'd appeased her partner, Andi turned to the hippogriffs and decided she could satisfy her curiosity. Sure she had a quest to worry about, but she really needed a break right now.

"So Silver, Quill, you said Wendy ran into your territory? So you're nesting near San Fran?"

 _Indeed._ Quill replied. _Though I'm unsure how to explain the exact location to you, My Lady. You humans use different ways to map things._

"That's not a problem. If I want to visit I can just ask Wendy to lead the way."

"Yup." The aforementioned Aura agreed.

"So you like your new place? It's better than the Camp's stables?"

 _No offense, My Lady, but anywhere is better than those stables._ Silver replied. _Expecting us to live alongside all those pegasi, blegh. I'd sooner live in a sewer._

 _Don't be such a drama queen._ Quill told his fellow hippogriff. _To answer your question, My Lady, our new nest is wonderful. You really should visit sometime. We'd be happy to show you around._

"I will." Andi promised with a smile, before growing serious. The break was over, time to get into mission mode again. "Wendy, where are we going?"

"The Garden of the Hesperides. Before I set off to find you, Miss Zoë said to meet the others there. They should be able to get there later today. She said we should regroup nearby and wait for sunset, so we can go in together."

"Why sunset?"

"It's the only time that the doorway to the Garden is open."

"Copy that." Andi said with a smile. Looked like they had a plan. That was always a good thing.

 _My ladies,_ Quill called out suddenly. _We're nearing Othrys._

"Othrys!?" Andi called out in alarm. "Why are we heading to the Titans' main base?"

"Andi, calm down." Wendy reassured. "The Titans' fortress is gone. The gods completely blasted it from existence during the last war."

"Right, dad sheared it off the top. Still…"

"The Garden is on the mountain, Andi." Wendy added. "Atlas was supposed to be imprisoned under the sky there too, which means it's likely where Artemis is after being forced to swap places with him. At least that's what Miss Zoë thinks."

"So? It's still crawling with the Titans' army, isn't it? Great, just great. Oh and a Titan."

 _It should be just pass this cloud bank._ Silver commented.

As if on cue, the chariot flew past a large cloud and they caught sight of the dread mountain.

"That doesn't look like the fortress was disintegrated to me." Andi said fearfully as she gazed at the top of a mountain on which lay a ruin. One, which even before her eyes, was slowly rebuilding itself. All over the mountain top, new blocks of black marble were materializing from thin air and assembling themselves into walls, and columns sprouting out from the earth like plants. It was too slow to be noticeable if one was at ground level, but from the air, it was almost obvious as whole sections just seemed to be more real, more complete with every passing moment.

"...Maybe Lord Zeus could blast it again?" Wendy suggested weakly.

"I don't see that happening right now."

They were just circling the mountain, looking for a landing spot when they were met with a reception.

" **Welcome to Othrys, little fly."** A booming voice echoed from the mountain. It was so loud and imposing that it almost seemed like the very mountain itself was speaking to them.

"Evasive maneuvers! Bank left!" Andi cried out.

The hippogriffs weren't fast enough though as a massive vortex consumed the group.

Suddenly, the air around them transformed into the inside of a massive vacuum cleaner and began sucking them towards the mountain. Both Andi and Wendy called on their powers over the wind to fight it, but whatever force was behind the vortex was powerful. Much more powerful than even their combined strength and they failed to stop it as it drew them in.

As they were drawn towards the mountain, the chariot was torn apart by the suction, sending debris flying everywhere. One particularly big chunk slammed right into Andi. The daughter of Zeus struggled to stay awake but it was too much, and all went dark.

* * *

Andi woke up with a throbbing headache. She used one hand to rub her head while the other grasped around, feeling straw around her. Taking in her surroundings, she realised that she was in a cell. Bars covered the front of what looked like a cubicle hewn out of the rough stone of a mountain. The only things inside were a bench and a pithos.

"...Bugger me in the glens."

Captured. Andi was a prisoner of the Titan army.

She figured Ares and Mr. D were laughing their arses off over this.

 _Fantastic. Thalia was right, I did wind up in jail. Fuck her._ Andi looked around her again, noting that she wasn't even restrained. _Wow, either I'm being really underestimated or this General guy is a dummy. Probably the former._

The girl was perfectly fine with this.

Hopping to her feet, the demigod pressed her face against the bars to look around some more. Flanking the cell were a trio of Laistrygonian giants. They were these eight-foot-tall cannibals with heavily tattooed arms, yellow pointed teeth, wore leather armor with spikes around the shoulders and were armed with iron clubs.

"Don't I get one I.M. call?" Andi asked nicely, a pretty smile on her face.

Her cheek wasn't appreciated though and she nearly got smacked as one of the giants banged her cell's bars hard, grunting at her.

 _Okay, so the bars are pretty sturdy. Seems these lump heads aren't going to get me out. Let's play this up._

"I demand a lawyer! I have rights! This is America! I'm a bleedin' American now! I read about how this stuff should go down!"

"Shut up, runt." One sneered at her. "You're a prisoner of war."

"Take me to your leader?" Andi took a shot, only for another to swing his club at her bars. Making them jostle, but still remain firm.

"Stop talking!"

The daughter of Zeus pretended to look apologetic. "I'm a rambler. Comes with the territory of demigodhood. A real disease mind you, actually contagious." She looked at them worriedly. "You blokes are cool right? No rambles?"

One of the giants looked to the one to the far left. "You've been talking a lot lately… must be from that kid of Demeter you ate last week."

"I do not!" The accused Laistrygonian giant snarled and pushed his accuser.

"Why you!"

As the two began to tousle, the third tried to stop them, only to be swept up into the brawl. As they bashed each others heads with their clubs, Andi smiled. Stepping back, she quietly chanted a spell.

 _Jailbreak!_

" **επικαλούνται:** **κατάρρευση** (Invoke: Implosion)."

As the spell words left Andi's mouth, a point in space in front of the bars of her prison began to distort. It began to suck in air in a vortex effect but it was not just air that was drawn in. The powerful forces unleashed by the spell also served to pull in the metal bars of her cell, causing them to bend and snap.

The three giants, standing on either side of the cell as they were, were drawn in by the vacuum effect as well. They struggled against the suction but it was hopeless, the power of Andi's spell was too great. Despite using all their strength and their desperate grasping at any and all handholds they could reach, their lower bodies were drawn into the vortex and crushed. The damage was too much and while screaming in agony, their bodies collapsed into gold dust.

 _That was easy._

"Now that I'm out, I've gotta rescue Wendy." Andi said with determination as she stepped through the wreckage of her cell door. She could feel a faint pull in the connection she had with the Aura, it was barely noticeable however and the daughter of Zeus wasn't surprised that she never noticed till now. Sadly, unlike Wendy she couldn't feel any sense of where her partner was through it. Thankfully, she had other options.

Grabbing a broken piece of the bars of her former cage, Andi cast the Point Me Spell on it and directed it to show her the way to Wendy. It was a nifty little spell she'd discovered in the notes left behind by the Hecate kids when they abandoned Camp. It was a variation of the Four-Point Spell that the wizards used to turn their wands temporarily into a compass. The Point Me Spell was far more useful however as it served to turn the target object into a compass that pointed in the direction of what the caster desired.

As Andi's magic took hold of it, the metal bar jumped to life and began pointing towards her right.

"That way it is."

She didn't know who heard the result of her implosion spell going off, but Andi did know she had to act fast. The demigod dashed through the halls, sticking low and to whatever shadows she could hide in to avoid contact with any roaming guards.

It took her only a few minutes to find Wendy's cell. The Aura was being held in just the next cell block over. Her cell was different from Andi's though as its bars was covered in glowing runic etchings that must have created some kind of magic that prevented Wendy from simply transforming into wind and drifting out of the cell. The Titans must have thought that the magic was enough to keep her restrained because she was only being guarded by a lone Laistrygonian.

A very nervous giant as it was subjected to an unblinking glare from his prisoner. Wendy was sitting stock still on the cell's bench levelling the coldest stare she could manage at the monster, her head swivelling to keep him unerringly pinned with her gaze even as he paced in front of her cage obviously desperate to somehow escape it.

"Stop that!" The giant whined. "Please just stop staring at me like that!"

Wendy didn't reply, just kept looking at him with a look that told him that once she got out, she'd end him.

 _Atta girl, Wendy._ Andi thought to herself proudly, as she snuck up behind the distracted guard.

"Oh just kill me. I'd rather a trip to Tartarus than more of this."

"'I'll be glad to oblige." Andi declared as she used a conjured wind blade to cut the monster in half.

"Andi!" Wendy cheered. "What took you so long?"

"I was knocked out." Andi explained. "How long has it been?"

"A couple hours." Wendy replied. "You ok?"

"Yeah. You? Silver and Quill?" Andi asked even as she gestured for her partner to back up from the bars.

"I'm fine." The Aura replied as she obeyed. "I don't know where they took the others though."

"Alohomora." The cell's lock resisted Andi's spell, but the demigoddess just pushed more magic into her spell and after a moment of struggle, the lock gave out and the cell door snapped open.

"There she is!" A voice cried out, even as Wendy stepped out of her cell. "She's freeing her pet Aura."

Turning to the sound of the voice, the duo spotted a group of guards rushing over. They were a mixed bag of seal like things with dog heads that Andi recognized as Telekhines and Scythian Dracaena.

"Sod off, you dirtbags!" Andi shouted at the advancing guards as she sent a cyclone of cutting winds down the corridor. Wendy joined in, adding her own scorching winds to the mass of deadly air. In minutes, the monsters were shredded, leaving behind nothing but golden dust.

"Before we go anywhere else, we'll need to get our gear." The child of Zeus concluded as she eyed the piles of gold dust in the corridor. "The guards are obviously onto us. We need our weapons."

Wendy nodded. "Any idea where they put our stuff?"

"No, but I know a spell that can show us the way."

* * *

By now the whole palace was starting to swarm with guards, so they had to sneak pass at least three separate groups of monsters that had been searching the dungeons for them, but eventually Andi's spell led them to a room that had a sign that helpfully indicated that it was the armory hanging over a pair of large metal doors. It was guarded of course, by a dozen Dracanae, but a quick barrage of air hammers easily took them out.

"We've gotta be quick." Andi warned, as she pushed the doors to the armory open. "They'll be sending more- Whoa!"

Wendy echoed the daughter of Zeus' awe as she too gasped at the sight before her.

The armory was a immense vault filled to the brim. In racks, stands, shelves and neat stacks on the ground were countless knives, swords, bows, polearms, necklaces, books and all manner of trinkets. Everything was giving off waves of magic causing the whole place to be practically smothered in ambient magic.

Andi quickly shook off her shock. "Come on! We need to hurry."

"Right." Wendy replied as she zipped off into the armory. "I can feel my feather is this way."

Looking down at the trusty metal bar, Andi recast the Point Me Spell. This time, she had it direct her towards Skyline.

"Hopefully, my dagger is there too." She hoped so, constantly using the Point Me spell was just getting repetitive. The witch inwardly complained as she followed her spell's directions towards a rack of swords hidden amidst the vast collection of weapons.

Tyche it seems was finally on her side -Andi made a mental note to remember to make a tribute of food to her the next meal she had- as she spotted her drakon dagger on a neighboring rack of short blades. Among which she found something that gave her pause. Sitting next to her poisonous knife was Bethy's trusty Celestial Bronze dagger.

 _If_ that's _here, then Bethy should be too!_

Andi stuffed the dagger in her boot for safe keeping as she frowned. "We need to take this place down. Like hell I'm letting these arses be this well equipped."

"But the guards." Wendy fretted as she flitted over, her Pheonix feather in her hair once more.

"We'll be-" Suddenly a booming voice was heard.

" **MY ARMORY!"** The voice of Andi's granddad echoed throughout the reassembling castle.

"-fine. What is with me and jinxes!" The daughter of Zeus complained as she grabbed her weapons. "We're going. Move, move, move!"

Wendy heeded her words as they bolted from the armory and Andi held out her hand just before they turned down the hallway.

"Confringo!"

A light the color of fire flew from her palm as she poured a good amount of magic into the spell. The spell impacted the floor of the vault just past the door and caused a massive explosion that rippled through the air. The armory crumbled, burying the weapons within as tons of stone crashed down.

"Move!" Andi hissed as she pushed the gaping Wendy around the corner.

"What now?"

"We get Bethy _then_ we make a plan." The daughter of Zeus answered with firm resolve.

* * *

By the time the duo managed to find Annabeth, her cell block was flooded with guards. Andi could count at least two dozen of them and she was pretty sure there were more hidden somewhere out of sight. She was not enjoying the odds. Especially with how weak and feeble Annabeth looked in her cell. Hades, some of her hair had even turned grey!

 _What did they do to you?!_ Andi thought in silent rage as she wanted nothing more than to massacre the monsters, but stayed her hand. _Be calm, be rational. That's what Bethy would do._ Andi turned back to Wendy. "We need to move."

"But Annabeth-"

"Will be fine." Andi swiftly cut her off, bottling down her own sense of agitation and disappointment. "I may want to gut him like a pig, but Luke isn't going to let Annabeth die. He's an arse like that."

"You sure?" Wendy asked uncertainly.

"Yeah." Andi managed through gritted teeth. "Let's go rescue Silver and Quill."

"Alright."

They had barely made it a few hallways down from Annabeth's cell when the duo were forced to duck into a curiously unlocked room to avoid a group of Telekhines as they rushed in the opposite direction on the way to reinforce the guard around the daughter of Athena's prison.

"Andi!" Wendy whispered in awe to the distracted demigoddess who was eying the monsters as they passed.

"What is it?"

The Aura just pointed towards a tapestry hanging on a wall inside the room they had taken shelter in. It had the image of a woman hanging upside down by her feet, her arms bound around her legs and her body being encased in what looked like white armor. The thing was flanked by a pair of statues that looked like crude imitations of tall men but with exposed gears and pistons and sheets of armor that Andi instantly recognized as automatons. She'd enough experience with them lately to know. They didn't look like anything Hephaestus or his mad daughter would have made though.

 _Probably Telekhine work. They're supposed to be tinkerers too._

Andi didn't know why the machine men weren't activating, but she wasn't about to give them the chance. Summoning Skyline to her hands in its bow form, she conjured a pair of air bomb arrows and shot them at the two automatons. The machines shattered to a million pieces at the blast.

"Andi we need to take that tapestry!"

"Why? Guards are going to be here any minute, we need to go!"

"I think, maybe, that's it's someone's tapestry of fate." Wendy whispered still in awe at the thing. "If the Titans keep it, they can control the fate of whoever it's about."

"...Yeah, we're taking this thing." Andi instantly said. Like hell she'd let Kronos have something like that. She didn't know whose tapestry it was, but whoever it was didn't deserve to made the Titans' slave. Calling on the winds, she ripped the tapestry from its place hanging on the wall and into her hands where it transformed into a handkerchief that Wendy snatched up and stuffed into a pocket of her dress.

"Let's go!" The Aura nodded and the partners fled from the room to the sound of monsters chasing after them.

"There they are! Get them!"

"Wendy! Run faster!"

"I'm running as fast as- Oh I'm idiot!" Wendy said with a groan. "Andi, get ready."

"Ready for wha-" Andi began only to be silenced as her partner transformed into her Storm Mail and the two of them flew down the corridor leaving their pursuers behind them roaring in frustration.

"It's so lovely to fly."

* * *

After they were sure they had shaken off their pursuers, the duo landed and dropped the Storm Mail. As useful as flying was in getting away from a horde of monsters. It was pretty attention grabbing and not really conducive to sneaking around an enemy's fortress. That and neither of them were entirely sure how long they'd be stuck down there and so they didn't want to exhaust themselves maintaining the Mail, which while plenty cost effective in terms of fatigue could still be draining if used too long.

Safe from immediate danger, it wasn't hard for them to find Andi's favorite pair of hippogriffs. She had just used the Point Me Spell on Skyline for a bit to show her where to go. To no surprise to anyone, it led them to the first place that came to her mind.

What would monsters do to a pair of large avian-equine?

Eat them, of course. Thus they found their feathery friends about to be prepared for dinner in the kitchens.

By this point, dodging roaming patrols and guards on duty had practically become second nature to the duo so they made it there without incident. What they found there was a little of a problem though. The place was crawling with Laistrygonians, all of them salivating, some literally so, at the prospect of hippogriff for dinner.

 _Please no! I'm too handsome!_ Andi heard a squawk that sounded like Silver echoing down the halls from where she and Wendy were hidden in the shadows of an alcove just down from the door to the kitchens. _Take the less handsome one!_

 _You sellout! But thank you for the mild compliment slash insult._ That was no doubt Quill.

 _You are welcome!_

Andi and Wendy peeked into the kitchen to see Silver strapped to a large table, with a Laistrygonian looming over him and sharpening a butcher's knife. He was wearing a chef's hat and an apron, which read: KISS THE GIANT, that was covered in blood and BBQ sauce. Silver was bound in ropes in the corner, as he tried to worm his way across the floor in a bid to do something to help his other half.

All around the kitchen were other Laistrygonians spectating the event and cheering the chef on or offering suggestions on how he could serve the birds for dinner.

That wasn't going to happen, not on Andi's watch.

Raising her bow, she fired off arrows in rapid succession. The audience of five all took a shot to the head, turning into dust. Through sheer luck, or possibly some interfering god, the chef avoided this fate by sheer chance as he moved his knife just as the arrow flew from her bow and it blocked the arrow.

The knife clattered along the stone ground, the chef blinking his eyes stupidly in confusion at this sudden development and looked towards the door. Andi drew another arrow.

"Uh, you want some hippogriff wings?" He weakly offered, his hands up in surrender as he looked down at Silver.

 _Wings! Wings?! Why my breasts would be far more scrumpalicious! I'm not some football game side dish!_ Silver screeched in outrage.

"Screw your wings." Andi told the giant as she fired off her arrow. It flew true and struck the monster right between its eyes, reducing it to gold dust.

 _My Lady, if I was not belted to this table, I would glomp you._ Silver told her in thanks.

"No prob, Silver. Wendy, free Quill." Andi said as she changed her bow to its sword form and sliced open the belts that were keeping him restrained. Immediately upon being freed, the hippogriff got to his talons and hooves, and snuggled her.

 _I was nearly a side dish!_ Silver's beak quivered as his large eyes teared up.

Andi patted his feathered head. "There there."

 _My Lady, crybaby. The guards._ Quill reminded them as he flexed his newly freed wings

 _I'm not a crybaby!_ Silver screeched in indignation, and looked to the side. _I'm merely sensitive._

"Birdbrains, focus!" Wendy chided them, wagging her finger sternly as she did so.

 _Yes._ The two nodded, getting serious.

"Let's get out of here." Andi said, getting ready to use her locator spell once again but Quill spoke up.

 _We can head left, there's a stair that leads to the surface not far in that direction._

"How did you know?" Andi asked in surprise.

 _Yes, about a hundred feet I think. We saw it while they were dragging us down here._

"You two managed to maintain a sense of direction while they were hauling us around?" Wendy asked, sounding impressed.

 _Of course._ Quill replied sounding peeved that the nymph was doubting him.

 _Unlike you Aura, who just let other winds and your moods direct where you go, we hippogriffs need to keep a perfect sense of direction when we fly._ An equally miffed Silver explained.

 _It's a matter of survival._ Quill added, with a stern glare in Wendy's direction.

"Oh." The Aura said in a chastised whisper. "I didn't know that."

 _Well, now you do._ Quill said sounding proud to have educated Wendy about the greatness of his kind. Silver nodding along, beaming with equal pride behind him.

 _Hams, the both of them._ Andi thought to herself as she rolled her eyes. "Ok, that's enough of an education on the talents of hippogriffs for now. Let's getting going. Lead the way guys."

They went down the corridor, avoiding another group of monsters that seemed to be rushing to see what the ruckus was in the kitchens. It was rather difficult with Silver and Quill's lack of stealth, but Andi made do somehow. The Invisibility Spell was really useful there, it was taxing on her magic but with a pair of otherwise very noticeable hippogriffs with her, she had no choice. She'd even had to muffle the air around them to hide their squawking at every shadow which they seemed certain were all hiding some monster out to eat them.

They climbed the stairs with no incident and emerged into what looked like a half finished hall. The stair seemed to open up into a small adjoining room, though the wall that separated it from the rest of the hall was only chest high at this point and gave them a good look at the equally unfinished state of the hall beyond. Its walls were half-formed and its roof was little more than blocks of stone lying on the ground.

"Ok, Quill, Silver, time to go."

 _Right. Get on My Lady._ Quill offered, lowering himself to allow Andi to mount him.

The demigod just shook her head. "Sorry guys, but we've staying. We still have a quest to finish."

 _But-_

Quill was silenced when Silver kicked him in the flank. _Be quiet._ Turning to face Andi, he continued. _We understand. We'll go get reinforcements and be back as soon as we can._

"I never said anything about reinforcements."

 _You can count on us, My Lady. We'll bring the whole flock to help._ Quill said confidently.

Andi just sighed, before levelling the hippogriffs with a stern gaze. "Just go. Now."

Silver and Quill nodded and flew off into the wintry night sky.

* * *

The summit of Othrys was unremarkable in itself, especially considering the magically reconstructing fortress that Andi had explored, largely unwillingly, on the way there. What _was_ eye catching were the gray clouds that swirled in a heavy vortex, making a funnel cloud that almost touched the mountaintop, but instead rested on the shoulders of a twelve-year-old girl with auburn hair and a tattered silvery dress: Artemis. The goddess' legs were bound to the rock with celestial bronze chains.

The sight was quite the spectacle, but what really caught Andi's attention was the fight that was raging just in front of the bound goddess.

Thalia was fighting Luke next to a large golden coffin that just reeked of evil -her granddad no doubt-, his cursed sword, Backbiter, clashing with Aegis and creating balls of yellow lightning that arced across the area each time. Off to the side, she spotted Annabeth bound, gagged and guarded by a couple of Dracaena and worryingly still looking as out of it as when Andi had seen her in her cell earlier. Meanwhile, Percy and that Zoë girl were fighting a giant in Greek armor that radiated power. Well, fighting was being very generous seeing as how the giant, Atlas if Andi was to take a guess, had just sent the son of Poseidon flying into a wall and was basically just swatting aside the Hunter's arrows.

The Titan looked like a living statue, with well built muscles that looked like they were carved out of stone. He had light brown skin with a brutal face, huge shoulders and hands that could probably break anything into little pieces. He fought in full Greek battle armor as he swung a javelin around. All while he laughed as he _played_ with Percy and the Hunter.

Andi saw no sign of Bianca, which worried her, but the demigod kept her focus on the fight. She could worry later.

"Andi, look." Wendy whispered urgently.

Turning to see what had caught her partner's attention, Andi's blood ran cold. Marching up the side of the mountain, from the beach where a cruise ship - the Princess Andromeda, probably - was docked, was a huge army. Dracaenae and Laestrygonians, monsters and half-bloods, hell hounds, harpies, and a host of other monsters. There were hundreds, and all of them were marching toward them. In a few minutes, they would be here.

The daughter of Zeus looked Wendy dead in the eyes. "Armor up."

The Aura obeyed without hesitation and soon the daughter of Zeus was cloaked in her Storm Mail. Drawing Skyline in its bow form, she was ready for battle. For a moment, she considered what to do, but it was a no brainer. Thalia could handle a fellow half blood. As much as she hated to admit it, rescuing Annabeth wasn't a good idea at the moment either. As out of it as she looked, she would just be a liability in the other fights. It was better to just leave her be for the moment. Percy and Zoë on the other hand looked like they needed all the help they could get.

 _Hope I'm making the right choice._ Andi prayed. She was gambling on the Titan being too arrogant to use his prisoner as a hostage to force them to surrender if things didn't go his way.

Flying into the fight against the iItan, and fighting off the slight nausea that the action was causing, Andi pulled back on her bow and fired off a massively oversized wind arrow at the immortal. The Hunter had tried to use quantity on him but that obviously hadn't worked. Time to try a new approach.

Sadly it proved just as ineffective as the arrow impacted the side of the Titan's head and only served to forcibly tilt it slightly. It did no damage whatsoever.

 _Shite! I'd have thought it would've at least give him a cut or something._

The Titan turned to face her and a cruel smirk spread across his face. He was about to say something, but a rain of arrows from Zoë distracted him and he turned to knock them out of the air.

"Andi?" Percy called out in surprise, as he caught sight of her. "We thought you were dead."

"Come on, Baywatch. I'm stupidly stubborn over living." Andi cracked a joke, trying to hide her nerves. "So who thought it was smart to fight a Titan?"

"Jackson." Zoë replied even as she joined the conversation, without once stopping her seemingly unless barrage of arrows on the Titan.

"Figures."

"Love you too, Andi." Percy dryly commented as he held his sword in front of him.

"Ah! Zeus' other little spawn." Atlas smiled wickedly, making him look very evil. "Did you enjoy your cell?"

"Kinda blew it up, and your armory, and some other stuff."

"I heard." Atlas said through gritted teeth, stomping the ground hard and creating a localized earthquake. Fortunately, everybody managed to keep their balance and so were able to evade the follow up sweep of the Titan's spear as he continued threateningly. "You shall pay dearly for that. Just like the lost Hunter already has."

Andi glanced at Percy and Zoë, she had an idea of what the Titan meant, but dearly hoped she was wrong. The others both looked away.

"So she's dead."

"Yes, Andromeda." Zoë said, shame faced over the subject.

"We didn't see her body though." Percy offered, even as he barely rolled away from a thrust from Atlas' massive spear.

 _So she might still be alive._ Andi prayed that was the case.

The daughter of Zeus bottled up her emotions over the subject as best she could though and tightened the grip on her bow. They were in the middle of battle, now wasn't the time to think about it. She glared at Atlas, arrows forming between her fingers. "I'm set for a fight if you guys are."

Percy's grin didn't reach his eyes. "Maybe you didn't notice? But we're kinda in one already."

"You're such a prat." Andi grinned back as she let her arrows fly.

The Titan swatted the arrows away as they exploded in his face. Unfortunately, despite the direct hit, as the smoke cleared, the Titan remained unharmed.

"So you have a magical laser or something?" Percy asked as he ducked under a swing from Atlas, going in for a stab. His thrust was strangely off though, almost as if Riptide was suddenly a lot heavier than he was used to. The Titan took advantage of whatever it was and kicked him in the stomach so hard that he was sent tumbling near Artemis.

The daughter of Zeus glared heatedly at the Titan and cast her Reinforcement spell on herself. Her entire body was strengthened by the spell as the magic sought out the muscles, bones, ligaments and other components that made up the complex biological machine and enhanced them. Temporarily filling in any imperfections and making the whole thing more efficient, more powerful. Using the enhanced strength that she'd gained from the spell, she drew her bow back much further than she usually could.

She fired off the same oversized arrow she'd first used on Atlas but this time she let fly two of the things instead of the lone one. She normally could only manage a single such arrow per pull, but with the enhancement of her magic she could double that feat.

The spell came with a price however, as it left her muscles feeling tight, like they could snap at any moment. Reinforcement worked by enhancing the body and making it work beyond its physical limits, while part of its effects was to raise those limits in the first place, it did not eliminate them nor did it serve to stop the strain of pushing the limit of one's abilities from taking its toll. Thus the longer Andi used it, the more she tore her body apart. Despite this, the girl kept her focus and continued her powered shots. She aimed for joints of the General's armor, hoping to at least slow him down .

Atlas boomed with laughter as he evaded with flexibility you'd think his stature should not have allowed. "Is that all you can do? Pepper me with twigs and puffs of air? I must say, I'm disappointed!"

"Oh yeah? Why don't you try this then? **Αερο** (Aero)!" The arrow Andi fired twisted into a spiraling squall that howled as it cut through the air like fan blades.

The titan took the spell head on, not worried whatsoever. As it passed him, it left nothing more than scratches on his armor, barely noticeable ones at that. He raised his large palm in Andi's direction which made the hairs of the back of her neck stand up.

"Sonic Move!" She blitzed out of the way, just in time too. A moment later, a blast of energy leapt from his palm and obliterated the place where she'd been standing. The area was reduced to little more than a smoldering crater.

"Now now, child of Zeus. I took your feeble attack. You should withstand mine." Atlas chuckled cruelly even as he spread his arms wide, in the process conjuring dozens of orbs of raw power that surged through the air as beams of destruction.

"Sonic Move!" Andi shouted as she invoked her trusty spell to desperately engage in evasive maneuvers.

The Titan let out a gloating laugh at this even as his attacks subsided. "You run away well, little fly!"

The strain of her Reinforcement magic finally started to take its toll though and as Andi dropped out of her latest Sonic Move, she felt something in her arm snap.

 _Andi!_ Wendy cried out worriedly.

"Don't worry, I've got this covered." Andi reassured, as she cast a healing spell. " **Καθαρό αέρα - επούλωση του ανέμου** (Invoke: Pure Air - Healing Wind)."

The spell healed the damage but only barely. It wasn't a particularly powerful spell and the injury Andi had caused herself was within the upper limits of its capabilities. She'd picked it up because with how much she tended to get hurt, Ida had insisted that she learn at least some minor form of healing magic. She wasn't like Apollo cabin and the spell wasn't as great as the Pheonix feather, but hey, it mended what it needed to.

 _Andi you need to dial down that enhancement magic._ Wendy advised.

"Doing it now." Andi agreed, as she did just that.

Atlas had moved to capitalize on Andi's distraction by stabbing her with his spear, but Zoë kept him occupied by shooting a salvo of her arrows at his face. He easily knocked the arrows out of the air with a wave of his hand, but it annoyed him enough to refocus his attention towards the Hunter and giving Andi the breather she needed.

One she used to cast a new spell. " **καθαρό αέρα - κάλεσμα στα όπλα** (Invoke: Pure Air - Call to Arms)!"

Thrusting an open palm towards Atlas, spiraling winds surged forth and in a matter of seconds coalesced into two dozen Auras. They swarmed the Titan, spears and blades of wind slicing at him. They did no real damage, but they kept him occupied as he tried to swat them out of the sky. Their forms transforming into formless wind each time his deadly palm got anywhere close to hitting them. Even then the sheer power of his blows sometimes proved too much, and the Aura were dispersing one after another.

Seeing their foe was preoccupied, the Hunter drew her celestial bronze daggers and flew at the Titan. "Die!" Zoë cried out as her knives dug into the General's collar bone.

Atlas released a bellow and a crack echoed across the mountain top as the back of his hand connected with the eternal maiden's body sending her flying. She smacked right into a wall, hard enough to send it crashing down onto her.

"MONSTER!" A voice roared as an eagle's screech filled the air soon after. It's talons clawed at Atlas' face, making the Titan try and bat it away. The eagle shifted into an enraged Artemis, her eyes burning a fierce silver as moonlight lit up of the area. The air shimmered as she drew two knives the size of her arm.

The two immortals fought. Atlas was laughing in joy as he swung his javelin around. Artemis was a blur of silver. She kept fluidly shifting throughout the fight. One moment she was in the shape of a tiger, the next she was a gazelle, then a bear or a falcon. She moved from offense to evasion without once missing a step or leaving an opening. The goddess of the moon was fighting with a grace and skill that left Andi awestruck.

By far, Artemis was the coolest sister _ever_.

All the while, the remaining few Auras aided the goddess in her battle, doing what little they could to at least distract the Titan.

 _Andi! We need to help Zoë._

At her partner's reminder, Andi shook her head to clear it and regain her focus.

"Right." The daughter of Zeus declared as she guided them towards where the Hunter had fallen.

She quickly began moving the stones that had buried Artemis' lieutenant to the side, using magic to levitate the heavier blocks when the need arose. It took an agonising minute of digging, during which the sound of the battle between the deities raged in the background, until she finally found Zoë. She was pretty badly hurt, her side was bleeding from a wound that looked _green_. Her face was swollen with one eye looking damaged and one of her arms was broken. Yet, amazingly, Andi's super hearing picked up the Hunter's shallow breaths.

"Wendy, get that feather ready." Andi said as she struggled to move another rock off Zoë.

"Right!" Wendy nervously replied as she returned to her true form and drew her Phoenix feather from her hair.

Meanwhile, Andi clutched the Hunter's good arm and looked her in her good eye.

"It's going to be okay, we'll fix ya right up." She smiled, trying to be brave for the Hunter. To be honest, it looked bad. Very, very bad.

"It won't work. Ladon's poison. Titan's curse. Mine own fate." The Hunter hissed in pained whispers.

"Nonsense." Andi reassured sternly. "Wendy!"

"I'm trying." The Aura replied, her feather already stretched out over Zoë's body and glowing brilliantly as she channeled her power into it. "It's not working!"

"Told thee."

"You seriously love the last word, don't you." Andi gave her a glare, but there was no heat behind it. The daughter of Zeus placed her own hands over the Hunter, casting every healing spell she knew to add to Wendy's efforts. But alas, it was to no avail.

The hunter just gave a brittle smile, too pained to reply.

Andi looked over to the battle, seeing the two immortals going toe to toe. As she did, she noticed something that really caught her off guard.

"That waterlodged idiot!"Andi shouted as she saw a pained face Percy about to be flattened by the sky.

"He is brave, for a boy." Zoë commented in a barely audible voice.

"A stupid boy." Andi corrected her. When they made it through this she was going to give her cousin a right earful!

Zoë gave a hacking laugh at that.

The battle seemed to be going in the goddess' favor so far, as she tricked the Titan into being led back towards where he had been imprisoned for so long by feigning giving ground. She settled the deal when suddenly as fast as thought, Artemis grabbed his javelin shaft while he was in mid thrust. It hit the earth right next to her and she pulled backward, using the javelin like a lever, kicking the Titan Lord and sending him flying over her. He fell towards his ancient gaol and pushed Percy out of the way. For a moment, the sky dropped eagerly towards the earth intent on destroying everything around the area, its gleeful intent to avenge itself against its treacherous wife clear, but then Atlas shot up and took his ancient burden once more.

"Noooooo!" He bellowed so hard it shook the mountain. "Not again!"

Percy wobbled, trying and failing to stay on his feet. Andi gave Wendy a look. "Keep an eye on Hunter girl, here."

The daughter of Zeus rushed towards Percy, to make sure he was okay. As she did so, she saw the conclusion of Thalia and Luke's fight. She looked on as her sister kicked him off the mountain while Annabeth -who had amazingly somehow freed herself- screamed in horror.

Andi had reached Percy, just in time to join him in looking over the edge of the cliff. The cousins quickly turned their heads away, the single glimpse they saw of Luke's broken body on the rocks below was more than enough.

The champion of Hecate felt vindicated. Luke deserved this. The saying "you reap what you sow" rung very true in this situation. The traitorous son of Hermes' fate was justice for all the demigods he had hurt in his pitiful revenge scheme. It was nice to see the Fates on her side today, because this made up for every shite moment she endured during the dreadful day so far.

The girl held up Percy, who looked ready to pass out.

"You are so stupid." Andi told him in relief that he was okay.

"Aw, you do care." He said, trying to be his usual _charming_ self. Though it came out with a bit of a slur.

Chants of anger and battle cries came from below, along with the steps of hundreds of monsters.

"Andi! The army!" Wendy shouted in warning, pointing as the first few monsters from the cruise ship reached the summit.

"Shite!"

No one was in shape for a major battle. The demigods were all exhausted and the lone goddess was frozen as she stared down helplessly at her dying lieutenant.

Just as Andi was about to ready herself to fight another desperate battle against the odds. A biplane of all things swooped down out of the sky, escorted by a whole flock of hippogriffs.

"Get away from my daughter!" A handsome, athletic, middle-aged man with sandy-colored hair called down, and the plane's machine guns burst to life, peppering the ground with bullet holes and startling the whole group of monsters into scattering.

"Dad?" Yelled Annabeth in disbelief.

The various airborne monsters, the harpies, dragons and a dozen different things, rose into the air to attack the plane, but the hippogriffs intercepted them. Tearing into them furiously with their talons and bucking them with hooves.

 _For feathered glory!_ Silver and Quill screeched as they led the charge.

"Them my hippogriffs! Whoa! Kick 'em in the flank!" Andi cheered, glee on her face at the sight of reinforcements.

"Run!" Annabeth's father shouted, his voice growing fainter as the biplane swooped by.

This shook Artemis out of her grief. She stared up at the antique plane, which was now banking around for another strafe.

"A brave man," Artemis said with grudging approval. "Come, we must get Zoë away from here."

She raised her hunting horn to her lips, and it's clear sound echoed down the valleys.

The plane swooped down again. A few giants threw javelins, and one flew straight between the wings of the plane, but the machine guns blazed. Andi realized with amazement that somehow the mortal must've gotten hold of celestial bronze to fashion his bullets. The first row of Dracaenae wailed as the machine gun's volley blew them into sulfurous yellow powder.

"That's… my dad!" Annabeth said in amazement.

"Yeah and he's awesome!" Andi told her with a beaming smile.

They didn't have time to admire his flying. The monsters were already recovering from their surprise. Already, the giants with javelins were getting into firing lines and raining their missiles in ordered volleys at the hippogriffs and the strafing plane, even as their aerial compatriots began pulling them with hit and run attacks into their killzones.

Just then, the moonlight brightened, and a silver chariot appeared from the sky, drawn by the most beautiful deer Andi had ever seen. It landed right next the goddess and she called out to the scattered half bloods.

"Get in!"

Andi and the others scrambled to get on board. Annabeth and Percy helped a particularly exhausted Thalia on while Andi assisted Artemis in carrying Zoe. Andi and Wendy wrapped Zoe in a blanket as Artemis pulled the reins and the chariot sped away from the mountain, straight into the air.

"Pull back!" Andi shouted to the hippogriffs and Annabeth's dad. "Retreat!"

The witch didn't know if they heard her, the goddess' chariot sped away too quickly for her to make sure. She prayed that they did and heeded her call though, she didn't think they stood a chance against the army if they didn't.

She was pulled from her morbid thoughts when Percy spoke up.

"Like Santa Claus's sleigh," Percy murmured, sounding dazed.

Artemis took time to look back at him. "Indeed, young half-blood. And where do you think that legend came from?"

"Do we even celebrate Christmas?" Andi pondered. She did enjoy getting those presents. Oh! And the nog, you could never forgo good eggnog.

Artemis gave her youngest sister a sly look, but said nothing. Instead choosing to just continue dashing away in the night sky.

Behind them, the army of Kronos roared in anger as they gathered on the summit of Mount Othrys, but the loudest sound was the voice of Atlas, bellowing curses against the gods as he struggled under the weight of the sky.

* * *

 **Boom! Titan's Curse is nearly done! Thanks to the team of Nameless and Axios as usual.**

 **What a ride? Am I right?! Andi's day has just been totally bonkers! GLaDos is back and with her daughter too! Hope you all enjoyed Chell. Along with some of the shoutouts we did this time around. I want to spoil them, but I also want to see who can figure out what's what. What do you think, Nameless, tell them or nah?**

 **Nameless: Most were pretty obvious, but just in case you aren't familiar with the stuff: The scavenger drones were Zerg drones from Starcraft, the raptor droids were Bioraptors from Zoids, and the Tachikomas were from Ghost in the Shell.**

 **E4E: Ah, Zoids, many an allowance of my childhood.**

 **Nameless: I wonder how you guys liked the way that we characterised Chell? We basically had her inherit her dad's inability to relate to biological people and added in a dash of mistreatment as a kid (you try being a mute mixed race looking orphan kid and not get at least some abuse. Now add in the traits of a demigod and this just becomes certain.) and you get her complete disregard and utter cruelty towards mortals. She's not incapable of feeling for others though, she just doesn't identify with mortals. She still feels for her creations and to a lesser extent other demigods.**

 **E4E: On another note, you all thought Bianca was going to live?! Ha! You fools! I made you care, with Andi befriending her and such. Ah, I love you all, but thou are naive! I slaughtered Lupin in Rhode, you think I'm afraid to kill people? Even if they are destined to die, but that's not my point! Sorry guys, I just like to put your hopes up and pull em away. XP**

 **Now for the fighting bits. You all saw Andi pull out some spells from nowhere, but what do you think she's been studying for? Seriously, that's the fruits of her labors and we are showing it. Andi's got an upgrade my peeps. Wait til you see what else she's got in store for you all.**

 **Nameless: We'll even make this something of a point when she gets back to Hogwarts, with wizards who knew her commenting on how she's finally starting to live up to her potential.**

 **Next, it's time for judgement from the gods and as you can guess, the Yule Ball! Do we have some** _ **surprises**_ **for you all. You're going to love it.**

 **Nameless: Though probably not in the same chapter, who knows? We'll see.**

 **We do bloat our chapters these days. XP We do it for you guys of course.**

 **Now, smash that review button! No flames! And peace off my peeps!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter**

 **The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans**

 **Chapter Twelve: The Vote is In!**

 **Beta: ShadowofAxios**

 **AN: Happy Holidays to all! Be merry!**

* * *

"Lady Artemis, could we stop at Crissy Fields?" Annabeth asked as politely as she could in her exhausted state. "My father's plane is based there, I want to make sure he's okay."

Artemis agreed as she cracked the reins of her silver sleigh. "Yes, anywhere is fine. We need to land as soon as possible. I need to check on Zoë."

The goddess didn't say it but from her saddened tone, it was clear she meant to say her goodbyes to her lieutenant before she passed on. Andi's heart went out to her sister and her good humor at joking about the reindeer sleigh went out the window as she realized how callous she'd been to be making jokes when one of the goddess' closest friends was dying.

The others seemed to have got the memo as well as the chariot descended into a respectful silence, as the goddess steered them in the direction of wherever this Crissy Field was.

* * *

They landed at Crissy Field after nightfall and to Andi's pleasant surprise found that not only was Annabeth's dad waiting for them at the airfield but Silver, Quill and their flock too.

Or was it a herd?

As soon as they landed, Artemis had carried Zoë off to one corner and was tending to her. The others respecting the goddess' desire for privacy went off to find something else to occupy themselves. Annabeth and Percy had shuffled over to talk to Mr. Chase, Andi idly noted that Thalia was torn between following the goddess or Andi herself who accompanied by Wendy had decided to see how the flock was doing.

"Silver, Quill, and other finely feathered folk." Andi greeted with a smile as she approached them.

 _Ah, my lady. Twas truly a glorious fight._ Silver squawked and puffed his feathers up.

 _You were pooping in fear the whole time!_ One of the other hippogriffs called out.

 _It was an aerial bombardment to dampen their morale!_

Quill sniffed in agreement. _A classic maneuver._

Wendy wrinkled her nose while Andi shook her head in amusement. "Thanks for coming, guys. You really bailed us out."

 _I wasn't minced into a side dish because of you, it was the least I could do to rally my brethren._ Silver crooned as he rubbed his beak affectionately against her cheek.

 _Suck up._

 _Who said that?!_

The flock/herd of hippogriffs broke out into a spat at that, Andi looking on in amusement.

"Err. Andi could I have a word?" Thalia asked hesitantly as she walked up.

Wendy, Silver, Quill and the other hippogriffs all shot the older demigod of Zeus a gimlet eye, even as Andi gruffly replied, "Yeah, whadya want?"

"Can we talk, alone?"

"No. Now spit it out." Andi told the older girl, she was exhausted from her trying day and so she was in no mood to cater to Thalia's whims.

Thalia bristled at that, but surprisingly didn't completely lose her cool. "Right. So I just wanted to say I thought you died and I took that harder than I thought I would."

The younger daughter of Zeus quirked a brow, urging Thalia to continue.

"And well… I was surprised. And relieved that you were gone. And guilty about feeling like that."

"But not sad? At all?" Wendy cut in, looking at Thalia in bewilderment.

"I dunno." Thalia said refusing to look either Andi or Wendy in the eye, which was as good as an admission. "I wasn't sure what I was feeling."

"And now you do?" Andi asked, some harshness in her tone.

"No, but I just thought that you'd like to know I didn't just rejoice when I thought you were dead." Thalia said defensively.

 _That's probably as good as I'm going to get from her._ Andi thought scathingly. "Thanks for sharing, I guess."

"That's all you're going to say?" Thalia said sounding annoyed. "I tell you that I don't totally hate you and you brush me off?"

Andi's exhaustion was visible. "What do you want me to say, Thalia? That we should hug it out? We both know we're never going to get along. I appreciate you not totally hating me to the point of wanting me dead. I do. But what else is there? What's going to change from this little experience? Frankly, nothin'. I'm too tired to keep trying. So I gotta ask; why bother?"

Thalia seemed taken aback by Andi being so snappy with her, but as her initial surprise cleared she defaulted to what seemed to be her standard response towards her cabinmate: anger.

"Fine!" The electrokinetic hissed, as she promptly turned and stalked off towards the direction of Artemis and Zoë.

The witch shook her head, if Thalia had given her a valid argument, Andi might have entertained her. Sadly, as always, all Thalia knew how to do was run away.

"What's up with Thalia?" Percy asked as he, Annabeth and her dad walked up.

"Tried to bond sisterly, blew up in her face. Or I think that was what she was aiming for in her own weird way." Andi remarked, looking Percy up and down. He looked like shite. "So, glad you got the weight of the world off your shoulders?"

Percy looked dryly at her for the joke. In his jet black hair, there was now a streak of grey, much like Annabeth. It must have been from the strain of holding the sky.

"You're hilarious."

Andi just punched him in the arm.

"Ow!"

Andi hissed at him. "Are you nuts?! It could've killed you!"

Rubbing his sore arm, Percy replied. "It worked didn't it?"

"Barely."

While Andi and Percy were catching up, Annabeth's dad was examining the hippogriffs in fascination with his daughter and Wendy playing translator and offering explanations about them.

The hippogriffs seemed to preen over his gushing over their 'greatness'. Typical birdbrains.

How Andi loved them.

"You only like them because they're just like you." Percy sniped, clearly wanting to get something back for Andi's ribbing about his plan earlier. "You all just love the attention."

"How?"

"It was all over your face, Andi." The son of Poseidon explained. "I don't need to be a mind reader to know what you were thinking."

"Don't stare at it too long, Annabeth might get jealous." Andi quipped with a smirk, making Percy stammer. Since he wanted to play, the short girl was more than willing to oblige.

"Heroes!" Artemis called over to them suddenly. Her voice was urgent. She and Thalia were kneeling at Zoë's side, binding the huntress's wounds. She didn't look good. The immortal was shivering, and the faint glow that usually hung around her was fading.

"Can't you heal her with magic?" Percy asked Artemis, as the group left the hippogriffs who were keeping a respectful distance behind to join the goddess at the dying immortal's side. "I mean… you're a goddess."

"We already tried on the mountain." Wendy added. "Not even the power of the Phoenix feather was enough."

Artemis looked troubled, but nodded unsurprised. "It would not have been. Life is a fragile thing, Percy. If the Fates will the string to be cut, there is little I can do."

Nevertheless, the goddess tried to set her hand on Zoë's side, but the girl gripped her wrist. She looked into the goddess's eyes, and some kind of understanding passed between them.

"Have I… served thee well?" Zoë whispered.

"With great honor," Artemis said softly. "The finest of my attendants."

Zoë's face relaxed. "Rest. At last."

"I can try to heal you, my brave one."

Zoë just shook her head, before turning to face Thalia and taking her hand.

"I am sorry we argued," Zoë said. "Lady Artemis is right, we could have been great sisters."

Andi withheld a snort. Zoë clearly didn't know what the term 'sisterhood' meant to Thalia. Maybe her coming death was making her delusional.

"It's my fault," Thalia said, blinking hard. "You were right about Luke, about heroes, men—everything."

"Perhaps not all men," Zoë murmured. She smiled weakly at Percy. "Do you still have the sword, Percy?"

The son of Poseidon brought out Riptide and put the pen in her hand. She grasped it contentedly. "You spoke the truth, Percy Jackson. You are nothing like… like Herakles. I am honored that you carry this sword."

A shudder ran through her body.

"Zoë—" Percy said.

"Stars," she whispered. "I can see the stars again, my lady."

A tear trickled down Artemis' cheek. "Yes, my brave one. They are beautiful tonight."

"Stars," Zoë repeated. Her eyes fixed on the night sky. And she did not move again.

Thalia lowered her head. Annabeth gulped down a sob, and her father put his hands on her shoulders. Andi felt sad over the old Hunter's death and put a hand on Percy's shoulder as he rubbed his eyes. They watched as Artemis cupped her hand above Zoë's mouth and spoke a few words in Ancient Greek. A silvery wisp of smoke exhaled from Zoë's lips and was caught in the hand of the goddess. Zoë's body shimmered and disappeared.

Artemis stood, said a kind of blessing, breathed into her cupped hand and released the silver dust to the sky. It flew up, sparkling, and vanished.

For a moment they didn't see anything different. Then Annabeth gasped. Looking up in the sky, the stars were brighter now. They made a pattern that Andi had never seen in her astronomy classes—a gleaming constellation that looked a lot like a girl's figure—a girl with a bow, running across the sky.

"Let the world honor you, my Huntress," Artemis said. "Live forever in the stars."

It wasn't easy saying our good-byes. The thunder and lightning were still boiling over Mount Othrys in the north. Artemis was so upset she flickered with silver light. That made all the demigods nervous, because if she suddenly lost control and appeared in her fully divine form, they would disintegrate by just looking at her.

"I must go to Olympus immediately," Artemis said. "I will not be able to take you, you will need to make your own way there."

"No worries, Ar-Lady Artemis." Andi corrected herself at a nudge from Wendy. "We'll take the hippogriffs."

Artemis nodded approvingly both at the suggestion and to Andi at least at her in general too. "Yes, they should be able to handle the journey. Fly well my young heroes."

"You were truly stalwart, young maidens." She told Andi and Wendy, looking sad. "I wish you could join the hunt instead of going into Hecate's service, sister. Though perhaps the little Aura?"

"Um, thank you." Andi was frankly happy with whatever good thing she could get today.

Wendy shuffled her feet, shaking her head. "No thank you, Lady Artemis. I'm happy where I am."

"That's fair."

Turning away from Andi and Wendy, the goddess faced Annabeth and set her hand on her shoulder. "You are brave beyond measure, my girl. You will do what is right."

Then she looked quizzically at Thalia, as if she weren't sure what to make of this particular daughter of Zeus. Thalia looked hesitant but forced herself to look into the goddess's eyes. It wasn't clear what passed between them, but Artemis's gaze softened with sympathy. Then she turned to Percy.

"You did well," she said. "For a man."

Percy looked ready to speak up, but stopped himself and looked stunned.

She mounted her chariot, which began to glow. They all averted their eyes just in time to avoid a flash of silver, that signalled the goddess' departure.

"Well," Dr. Chase sighed. "She was impressive; though I must say I still prefer Athena."

Annabeth turned toward him. "Dad, I… I'm sorry that—"

"Shh." He hugged her. "Do what you must, my dear. I know this isn't easy for you."

His voice was a little shaky, but he gave Annabeth a brave smile. "You must go, right, my dear?"

Annabeth gave a nod. "I'm sorry, but it's important."

"I understand." He said with a smile before giving her one last awkward, well-meaning hug. "Annabeth. I know… I know San Francisco is a dangerous place for you. But please remember, you always have a home with us. We will keep you safe."

Annabeth didn't answer, but her eyes were red as she stepped back. Dr. Chase started to say more, then apparently thought better of it. He raised his hand in a sad farewell and trudged away across the dark field.

"Come on Annabeth, let's go." Andi called out as she mounted Silver while Wendy did the same with Quill. While Annabeth walked over, the youngest daughter of Zeus introduced Percy to Sketchy, his mount.

"Wait, why do I have to go on Sketchy?" Percy asked. "That's just...sketchy." He finished lamely.

 _The only thing I see that's sketchy is that rat's nest you call hair!_ Sketchy was very abrasive.

Percy held his hair in concern at that. He was able to understand them thanks to their equine halves.

Annabeth thankfully didn't raise a fuss over Beaker volunteering to be her ride. She was cool like that.

Nobody wished to give Thalia a ride, so Andi had to ask them very nicely and promised to get them a juicy feret for their troubles.

Eventually Dusty, one of the oldest and grumpiest hippogriffs, agreed to do so. Thalia looked about as thrilled by the whole thing as he was. That is, not at all.

With everyone's ride sorted out, they soared into the air. Soon San Francisco was only a glittering crescent behind them, with an occasional flicker of lightning in the north.

Thalia was so exhausted she almost immediately fell asleep on Dusty's back, despite her fear of heights. Not that she had anything to worry about. The hippogriffs were all excellent fliers, Dusty was no exception and he easily adjusted himself every once in awhile so Thalia stayed safely on his back.

He did complain about her snoring though.

Taking the opportunity of a long flight, the friends flew alongside each other and decided to play catch up.

"Your dad seems cool," Percy told Annabeth.

"I mean, who comes up with celestial bronze bullets?" Andi had to agree, that was wicked.

It was too dark to see her expression but she looked back, even though California was far behind them now.

"I guess so," she said. "We've been arguing for so many years."

"Yeah, so you've said."

"You think I was lying about that?" It sounded like a challenge, but a pretty half hearted one, like she was asking it of herself.

"I didn't say you were lying. It's just… he seems okay. Your stepmom, too. Maybe they've, uh, gotten cooler since you saw them last."

She hesitated. "They're still in San Francisco, Percy. I can't live so far from camp."

"So what are you going to do now?" Percy asked hesitantly.

They flew over a town, an island of lights in the middle of the dark. It whisked by so fast they might've been in an airplane.

"I don't know," she admitted, before hastily changing the subject. "But thank you guys for rescuing me."

"Hey, no big deal. We're friends."

"Soon as I heard, I came running for you." Andi said. She glanced at Annabeth sternly. "You owe me about a million hugs for saving ya."

"I did too." Wendy piped in while flying closer to them.

"Thank you, um… Wendy right?"

"Yes!"

"Well, again, thank you." Annabeth looked at Andi with a light laugh. "And sure, Andi, as long as you keep count."

"I'll make a hug counter."

"What about me?" Percy pouted. "How many hugs do I get?"

Annabeth's face burned red at this, illuminating the night sky. Percy's did the same after realizing what he said.

"Oh just kiss already!"

"Andi!" The total couple hissed at her.

 _I ship it!_ Silver declared, making Quill roll his eyes.

 _Please, you could ship just about anything._

 _Oh, I know._

"You guys didn't believe I was dead?"

"Never." "Nope."

She hesitated. "Neither is Luke, you know. I mean… he isn't dead."

Andi and Percy both stared at her. Was she cracking under the stress? How would she know? "Annabeth, that fall was pretty bad. There's no way—"

"He isn't dead," she insisted. "I know it. The same way you knew about me."

Andi grunted unhappily. There went her satisfied mood over the death of an enemy. Percy didn't look any better.

 _My Lady, we're almost there._ Quill informed them, cutting into the tension the previous line of conversation had created.

Looking up ahead, a huge white-and-yellow glow spread out before them—the lights of New York.

"Thanks guys, the hippogriff express does it again." Andi patted Silver's head.

"None of you believe me about Luke," Annabeth said apparently still stuck on the unhappy topic, "but we'll see him again. He's in trouble, Percy. He's under Kronos's spell."

Andi let it go. She didn't want to talk about the traitor, it would just spoil the mood.

"There it is." Thalia said suddenly, having apparently woken up. She was pointing toward Manhattan, which was quickly zooming into view. "It's started."

"What's started?" Percy asked.

They all looked at where she was pointing. High above the Empire State Building, Olympus was its own island of light, a floating mountain ablaze with torches and braziers, white marble palaces gleaming in the early morning air.

"The winter solstice," Thalia said. "The Council of the Gods."

* * *

Twelve enormous thrones made a U around a central hearth, just like the placement of the cabins at Camp. The ceiling above glittered with constellations—even the newest one, Zoë the Huntress, making her way across the heavens with her bow drawn.

There was even a seat made of obsidian placed next to Hermes. The Lord of the Underworld had visited on the one day he was allowed to do so, garbed in a dark Italian suit woven from the souls of the damned. But what grabbed Andi's attention was that he wasn't there alone.

Gasps and wide eyes came from the heroes as sitting on the floor, looking nervous as could be, next to Hades was Bianca. Her dark eyes brightened at seeing them and she gave the smallest of waves.

Thalia's jaw nearly dropped, Percy's shoulders slacked in relief, while Andi did her best to not run across the hall to hug her friend. It didn't stop the young daughter of Zeus from rubbing a few stray tears from her eyes though.

Mr D.'s disgusted snort at the display caught Andi's attention, causing her to take in the council as a whole.

All of the other seats were occupied, unlike the last time she'd been here. Each god and goddess was a roughly fifteen feet tall, all-powerful super-huge being. All together the Olympian council was very, very intimidating.

"Welcome, heroes," Artemis said.

"Mooo!"

That's when Andi noticed Grover, and some strange cow fish.

A sphere of water was hovering in the center of the room, next to the hearth fire. The odd sea bovine was swimming happily around, swishing its serpent tail and poking its head out the sides and bottom of the sphere. It seemed to be enjoying the novelty of swimming in a magic bubble. Grover was kneeling at Zeus's throne, as if he'd just been giving a report, but when he saw them, he cried, "You made it!"

He started to run towards Percy, then seemed to remember he was turning his back on Zeus, and looked for permission.

"Go on," Zeus said. But he wasn't really paying attention to Grover. The lord of the sky was staring intently at Andi and Thalia.

Grover trotted over. None of the gods spoke, though Mr. D rolled his eyes. Every clop of Grover's hooves echoed on the marble floor. The strange sea creature splashed in its bubble of water. The hearth fire crackled.

Andi glanced at her father, remembering the last time they had met. She resolved to do her best to stay quiet and avoid eye contact unless she was addressed.

Grover gave Annabeth, Thalia, and Andi big hugs. Then he grasped Percy's arms. "Percy, Bessie and I made it! But you have to convince them! They can't do it!"

"Do what?" Percy asked.

"Who the heck is Bessie?" Andi quirked a brow in confusion. Was it the sea cow? Seriously?

"Heroes," Artemis called.

The goddess slid down from her throne and became human sized, a young auburn-haired girl, perfectly at ease in the midst of the giant Olympians. She walked toward them, a column of moonlight illuminating her with every step she made, her silver robes shimmering. There was no emotion on her face.

"The Council has been informed of your deeds," Artemis told the group of friends "They know that Mount Othrys is rising in the West. They know of Atlas' attempt for freedom, and the gathering armies of Kronos. We have voted to act."

There was some mumbling and shuffling among the gods, as if they weren't all happy with this plan, but nobody protested.

"At my Lord Zeus' command," Artemis said, "my brother Apollo and I shall hunt the most powerful monsters, seeking to strike them down before they can join the Titans' cause. Lady Athena shall personally check on the other Titans to make sure they do not escape their various prisons. Lord Poseidon has been given permission to unleash his full fury on the cruise ship Princess Andromeda and send it to the bottom of the sea. And as for you, my heroes…"

She turned to face the other immortals. "These half-bloods have done Olympus a great service. Would any here deny that?"

She looked around at the assembled gods, meeting their faces individually. Zeus in his dark pin-striped suit, his black beard neatly trimmed, and his eyes sparking with energy. Next to him sat a beautiful woman with silver hair braided over one shoulder and a dress that shimmered colors like peacock feathers. The Lady Hera.

Their first ever meeting and it was going to be over what to do with them. Andi could just feel a cold sweat roll down her neck.

On Zeus' right, was Poseidon. Next to him, sat a huge lump of a man with a leg in a steel brace, a misshapen head, and a wild brown beard, fire flickering through his whiskers. The Lord of the Forges, Hephaestus.

Hermes winked at them. He was wearing a business suit today, checking messages on his caduceus mobile phone. Apollo leaned back in his golden throne with his shades on. He had iPod headphones on, making it hard to tell if he was listening, but he gave them a thumbs-up. Dionysus looked bored, twirling a grape vine between his fingers. Though he did send Andi a disappointed look, as if he'd rather she'd died. And Ares, well, he sat on his chrome-and-leather throne, glowering at Andi and Percy while he sharpened a knife.

On the ladies' side of the throne room, a dark-haired goddess in green robes sat next to Hera on a throne woven of apple-tree branches. Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest. Next to her sat a beautiful gray-eyed woman in an elegant white dress. She could only be Annabeth's mother, Athena. Then there was Aphrodite, who offered the heroes a smile.

That smile just amped up Andi's already tense nerves to eleven.

All the Olympians in one place. So much power in this room that it was a miracle the whole palace didn't blow up.

"I've gotta say"—Apollo broke the silence—"these kids did okay." He cleared his throat and began to recite: "Heroes win laurels—"

"Um, yes, first class," Hermes interrupted, like he was anxious to avoid Apollo's poetry. "All in favor of not disintegrating them?"

A few tentative hands went up—Demeter, Aphrodite.

"Wait just a minute," Ares growled. He pointed at the trio of Big Three children and Bianca. "These four are dangerous. It'd be much safer, while we've got them here—"

"Ares," Poseidon interrupted, "they are worthy heroes. We will not blast my son to bits."

"Nor my daughters," Zeus grumbled. "They've done well."

Thalia blushed. For a moment she seemed to want to look at the floor in embarrassment, but quickly shot a look to Andi and seemed to steel herself. Apparently, she was unwilling to look 'weak' in front of the younger daughter of Zeus.

For her part, Andi didn't spare Thalia more than a glance. She was too busy luxuriating in the happiness that had blossomed in her chest, and standing straighter as her father shifted his stern visage towards her. She'd hardly ever talked to her father, much less gotten a compliment, so this was a huge deal to her.

"You even think about it in terms of my children, and we'll see how well the losing soldiers answer to you, Ares." Hades' voice was quiet, but chilled the air and made it grow heavy. "I've just been reunited with my daughter. Do you think I would let you get away with trying something like this?"

 _She's Hades' daughter?!_ Andi's eyes widened along with the others. _But that means that Nico's also his. So he broke the Oath-The Lotus!_

Bianca and Nico, they were born before the Oath of the Big Three.

"I'm sure my daughter must be in tears over this, Hades." Demeter glared at her brother.

Hades groaned, running a hand down his face. "She knows and accepts them. Grudgingly."

"You lie!" The goddess of grain shouted, her eyes ablaze as she glared at her brother. The ears of corn in her hair looking ready to pop into popcorn.

"Brother, Sister, enough please." Hera tutted them as if they were children, smiling benevolently. "We can discuss Hades' ...unfaithfulness later."

"They were born before the Oath, Hera. Stay out of this." Hades warned the Queen of Heaven. He glanced at Zeus, daring him to comment.

"Enough." The god king said. "We have more important things to discuss."

"Agreed." Athena said, before the elder gods could get back to squabbling. "I am proud of my daughter as well. But there is a security risk here with the others."

 _Wow, talk about a Debby Downer._ Andi grumbled inwardly. Though from the glance the goddess threw her way, she clearly read her mind. Oh, right, Andi had forgotten. She needed to control her thoughts when in the presence of the gods. Letting them hear your true thoughts didn't go over well.

Thankfully, the goddess seemed to decide to let Andi's rebellious thoughts slide. Andi couldn't help but be thankful for that.

"Mother!" Annabeth said. "How can you—"

Athena cut her off with a calm but firm look. "It is unfortunate that my father, Zeus, and my uncle, Poseidon, chose to break their oath not to have more children. Only Hades kept his word, a fact that I find ironic. Though it seems even he has offspring that might fit, if not perfectly, the parameters of the Great Prophecy. These children: Thalia, Andromeda, Percy, Bianca and Nico… are dangerous. As thickheaded as he is, Ares has a point."

"Right!" Ares said. "Hey, wait a minute. Who you callin'—"

He started to get up, but a grape vine grew around his waist like a seat belt and pulled him back down.

"Oh, please, Ares," Dionysus sighed. "Save the fighting for later."

Ares cursed and ripped away the vine. "You're one to talk, you old drunk. You seriously want to protect these brats?"

Dionysus gazed down at them, a sinister smile on his face as he zeroed in on Andi. "I have no love for them. In fact, I'd dearly love to see at least one of them die a gruesome death. Athena, do you think it can be arranged?"

"I do not pass judgment," Athena said. "I only point out the risk. What we do, the Council must decide."

"I will not have them punished," Artemis said. "I will have them rewarded. If we destroy heroes who do us a great favor, then we are no better than the Titans. If this is Olympian justice, I will have none of it."

"Calm down, sis," Apollo said. "Jeez, you need to lighten up."

"Don't call me sis! I will reward them."

"Well," Zeus grumbled. "Perhaps. But the monster at least must be destroyed. We have agreement on that?"

A lot of nodding heads.

Percy looked flatfooted. "Bessie? You want to destroy Bessie?"

"Mooooooo!" Bessie protested.

Andi tuned the conversation about the sea cow out. She was a little preoccupied with sweating cold sweat as Mr. D continued to glare at her. It was a very powerful reminder, considering his now godly form's size, that she had a very powerful enemy on the council.

Thankfully, Zeus seemed to notice and reined him in. "Dionysius, pay attention."

Andi breathed a sigh of relief, she was a hair's breadth from losing her cool and doing something. She didn't know what, but it would probably have been stupid and would have gotten her killed.

"Right, sorry." The wine god said insincerely, as he leaned back in his throne.

"And what of the risk? Kronos knows full well, if one of you were to sacrifice the beast's entrails, you would have the power to destroy us." The sky god continued apparently satisfied with rebuking his son, and returned his attention to his demigod daughters. "Do you think we can let that possibility remain? You, my daughter, will turn sixteen on the morrow, just as the prophecy says."

"You have to trust them," Annabeth spoke up. "Sir, you have to trust them."

Zeus scowled. "Trust a hero?"

Andi felt a pang in her chest now, it was as if the very idea revolted the king of Olympus. But she could understand where he was coming from. Zeus was king, he was responsible for the security of Olympus and by extension the whole world. He didn't really have the luxury to trust anyone with that. Not even his own children. After all, didn't Ares prove two summers back how badly things could go on that front?

She just took a deep breath, keeping her face as stony as possible as she waited for the council's final judgment.

"Annabeth is right," Artemis said. "Which is why I must first make a reward. My faithful companion, Zoë Nightshade, has passed into the stars. I must have a new lieutenant. And I intend to choose one. But first, Father Zeus, I must speak to you privately."

Zeus beckoned Artemis forward. He leaned down and listened as she spoke in his ear.

Percy was shaken by this, whispering fiercely to a confused looking Annabeth. Andi did her best not to eavesdrop, despite how easy it could have been.

"I shall have a new lieutenant," she announced. "If she will accept it."

"No," Percy murmured.

"Thalia," Artemis said. "Daughter of Zeus. Will you join the Hunt?"

Stunned silence filled the room. Andi was truly surprised. _Maybe Zoë wasn't as delusional as I thought._

Annabeth smiled. She squeezed Thalia's hand and let it go, as if she'd been expecting this all along.

"I will," Thalia said firmly.

Zeus rose, his eyes full of concern but also strangely resigned. "My daughter, consider well—"

"Father," she said. "I will not turn sixteen tomorrow. I will never turn sixteen. I won't let this prophecy be mine. I stand with my sister Artemis. Kronos will never tempt me again."

The witch withheld a scowl. _So_ she's _your sister now? Double standards abound! Hypocritical bint._

Andi looked away, uncaring of Thalia's pledge of servitude towards the goddess. She just glanced towards Bianca, who was shaking her head at Thalia's decision. Personally, Andi was more concerned with trying to figure out how why Bianca wasn't glowing silver like her flashlight of an ex-cabinmate than watch Thalia make herself more of a hypocrite and sell her soul to a goddess where she once chided her for doing the same. A choking noise brought Andi's attention to see Thalia hugging Percy, saying how he'd be the prophesied one.

 _Thanks for the vote of confidence._

She hugged Annabeth, who was trying hard not to cry. Then she even hugged Grover, who looked ready to pass out, like somebody had just given him an all-you-can-eat enchilada coupon.

The two demigods of Zeus didn't even look at each other, their dislike clear to all in the room.

Frankly, Andi felt happy. She didn't have to listen to Thalia's garbage music and tone deaf voice anymore.

Then Thalia went to stand by Artemis' side.

"Now for the Ophiotaurus," Artemis said.

"The children are still dangerous," Dionysus warned. "The beast is a temptation of great power. Even if we spare them—"

"My Lords and Ladies," Andi said tentatively, calling on all the etiquette that Ida had drilled into her. "If I might speak in our defense?"

Mr. D looked irked to have been interrupted, but the other gods didn't seem to care. A few even shot the wine god teasing smirks at his plight.

Andi however looked at her dad, he was king after all, waiting for him to nod before continuing. "None of us would ever think of destroying Olympus. We like the world as it is too much. For myself in particular, I would never even dream of harming an innocent creature. The Ophips-Ophops-" A few snickers broke out at Andi's stumbling over the sea cow's name, but no one made a fuss of it.

"Ophiotaurus." Wendy, who had been respectfully silent so far, leaned into Andi's ear to whisper the name to her.

The young witch flushed, and murmured a thank you. "Yes, the Ophiotaurus is safe from me."

The gods seemed satisfied, if the nods she got from most of them was anything to go by.

Done with her own defense, she glanced at Percy, urging him to open his mouth and do his fair share.

"Same here." Percy confidently declared, looking around at all the gods. "Please. Keep the Ophiotaurus safe. My dad can hide him under the sea somewhere, or keep him in an aquarium here in Olympus. But you have to protect him."

"And why should we trust either of you?" Rumbled Hephaestus.

"We're only fourteen," Percy said. "If this prophecy is about one of us, that's two more years."

"Two years for Kronos to deceive you," Athena said. "Much can change in two years, my young heroes."

"Mother!" Annabeth said, exasperated.

"It is only the truth, child. It is bad strategy to keep the animal alive. Or either of them."

"I cannot make any assurance that you'll trust, My Lords and Ladies." Andi admitted, even as it killed her to do so. "All of you will just have to trust us."

"At least she's smart enough to know that," Apollo observed. "And honest too. Best policy in my book. Hm, note to self, write another book on Me."

Several gods murmured their agreement. Andi felt relief wash over her, she was worried that saying that would have gotten her into trouble. Thankfully, her honesty had won her the brownie points she'd thought it would.

Poseidon stood suddenly and declared his stance on the matter. "I will not have a sea creature destroyed, if I can help it. And I can help it."

He held out his hand, and a trident appeared in it: a twenty foot long bronze shaft with three spear tips that shimmered with blue, watery light. "I will vouch for the boy and the safety of the Ophiotaurus."

"You won't take it under the sea!" Zeus stood suddenly. "I won't have that kind of bargaining chip in your possession."

"Brother, please," Poseidon sighed.

Zeus's lightning bolt appeared in his hand, a shaft of electricity that filled the whole room with the smell of ozone.

"Fine," Poseidon said. "I will build an aquarium for the creature here. Hephaestus can help me. The creature will be safe. We shall protect it with all our powers. The boy will not betray us. I vouch for this on my honor."

"And I vouch for my daughter."

"I, of course, do the same for my children." Hades added fiercely, daring the other gods to challenge his right to do so despite him not being an Olympian.

Bianca looked towards Andi, who did her best to send her a positive smile.

Zeus sighed at Hades' display, before deciding to put the matter to a vote. "All in favor?"

Amazingly, a lot of hands went up. Dionysus abstained. So did Ares and Athena. But everybody else…

"We have a majority," Zeus decreed. "And so, since we will not be destroying these heroes… I imagine we should honor them. Let-"

"Pardon my king," Hephaestus said suddenly, the gruff god leaning forward in his throne to join the conversation. "But there is one more matter to discuss."

"And that is?"

The god of the forge glanced at Andi and grunted. "Speak about what happened in Frisco."

Andi gulped as all the attention of the assembled gods turned to her. She did her best to remain calm as she began to recount her confrontation with GLaDOS, Chell and their killer robots.

"I, uh, yes! Of course!" Andi nodded as she cleared her throat, standing straight as a two by four. "As I was in the Junkyard of the Gods, there was a group pilfering through it."

"And they were?" Hermes looking mildly intrigued at thieves willing to rob the junk of the gods.

"A group of automations, much like the one that attacked camp last summer." That caught the gods' attention, many of them had lost children to that attack and were spoiling for clues on the ones responsible. "They were these really creepy bug things with pincers and stuff. They were being controlled by the AI GLaDOS."

Andi waited to see if the gods needed her to explain who that was, but they all seemed to just send glares to the crippled god of fire instead. So that meant they at least were briefed on who the computer woman was.

"She said something about owing me a debt for rescuing her, then attacked me and teleported me to their base."

"If she repaid the debt to you by saving you from the fight with the security Talos at the junkyard, how did it turn into a fight in Frisco?" The forge god asked sounding confused.

"Captured twice in one day, half-pint? How sad." Ares mocked her with a grin, ignoring his brother's question.

"Pickle jar." Apollo couched into his hand.

The god of war glared furiously at the sun god.

Andi chose to ignore the byplay between the gods, it was the smart thing to do. Instead she continued with her account.

"I might have freaked out at suddenly being teleported inside a foundry and overreacted by smashing one of her automatons." Andi explained. "She got pissed at that and attacked. It wasn't just those bug ones there either, there were chrome dinosaurs that breathed fire too. Those were a right pain-"

Wendy squeezed Andi's hand warningly and the witch realized she was getting too caught up in her retelling and was starting to slip in her manners. Taking a breathe to recenter herself she continued.

"They were pretty dangerous, but I managed to get pass them. Just as I was about to escape though, a demigod showed up with a bunch of talking tanks on wheeled legs that were equipped with a variety of lasers and stuff."

"Did you get the demigod's name?" Hephaestus asked eagerly, even putting away the contraption he'd been tinkering with for most of the council but which Andi noted he'd mostly ignored since they started talking about GLaDOS.

"Chell. Her name was Chell Johnson, Lord Hephaestus." Andi supplied even as she began to look at the god strangely, several other gods doing the same, confused by his strange interest.

Athena glared at Hephaestus. "She's one of yours, isn't she?"

The fire god just nodded, a proud smile on his face.

More than a few gods frowned at seeing that, but he ignored them and gestured for Andi to continue.

"I managed to escape the base but she, she managed to catch up with me after I fled into Frisco which was nearby. She had me surrounded and forced me to surrender. She blasted a whole skyscraper down with one shot, I had no choice." Andi looked at them, nervous. "She's willing to do anything just to get what she wants. First it was Camp, then it was all those innocent people. Chell's dangerous. Like, Luke dangerous."

She looked apologetically to Hermes - who looked an odd combination of sad and furious - for the comparison, but this woman was a threat.

"And what of this GLaDOS? Is she a threat of that scale too?" Artemis asked, as she seemed to weigh the dangers Chell and her mother represented in the grand scheme of things.

"I think so." Andi added uncertainly. She honestly couldn't say. She didn't exactly have much to go on when it came to the AI's direct threat. "Right now, all I know is that she, it, is growing stronger. She was just a single tablet computer when I first met her, now she had control of an entire foundry. I-I can't say what might be next. But if her daughter is anything to go by, then she'll kill without remorse."

"I warned that he liked the idea of Skynet way too much." Apollo swore as he looked towards Zeus pointedly. "I. Told. You." His index finger tapped his armrest at each word.

"You get the weirdest enemies." Percy cut in, before Annabeth could stop him.

Andi ignored Percy best she could. Not that she didn't completely agree with him.

The distraction seemed to upset the gods, the hypocrites, and they sent him a withering look that had Percy paling and gulping nervously.

"That might be the case Apollo, but I don't see why this is important." Zeus said in annoyance, apparently upset that they couldn't start the celebration yet. "It's just another rogue demigod and her bunch of pet monsters. Automations in this case."

"Father Zeus, I beg to differ." Athena said in a respectful tone, but still somehow sounding chiding. "These are the ones responsible for attacking Camp Half-Blood and killing so many of our children. With lasers."

Ares perked up at this. "Finally, laser warfare. Next it's aliens."

"Oh get over it, Athena." Mr. D said disinterestedly. "They might be dangerous, but no more so than any other bunch of monsters."

"Your disinterest in the Camp's safety does not help in this matter, Dionysus."

"Athena, do not try to make an issue where there is none." Hera cut in. "For now, at least, Dionysus is right. We have bigger threats to worry about than a group of machines."

The agreeing nods from all the elder gods settled things, the gods were going to set the issue aside for now.

Andi shifted uneasily at that, she didn't think it was a good idea even if she agreed that Kronos was the bigger threat.

"Is there anything else?" Zeus asked Andi, sensing her hesitation.

"Actually, yes, My Lord." Andi admitted, as she remembered one last thing she had to report. "During my escape from Mount Othrys' prison. I found something that I need to tell you about."

Ares snorted at the mention of her capture, and snidely asked, "And what is it?"

"Wendy, show them please."

The Aura nodded and pulled out the folded piece of tapestry they had found in Kronos' vault. Hisses and exclamations of shock resounded in the throne room.

"A tapestry of fate!" An outraged Artemis declared. "And one such as this? In the hands of the Titans?"

"And possibly one of many." Athena reasoned worriedly. "It might explain the unexpected influence they seem to be able to exert. They might be using these to enslave their owners."

Hephaestus was the most quiet out of the gods, his face was stony, but Andi could see it in his eyes. Excitement, like he knew just what the imagery was about.

"Husband." Hera said, looking grave as she addressed the king of Olympus. "If he holds more of these…"

She trailed off, her tone tinged with anger as she did her best to keep calm in the face of the insult to women everywhere that the tapestry's imagery portrayed.

"We will have the matter looked into." Zeus looked down at Andi and once again, he had a proud look in his eyes as he addressed her. "You've done well to bring this to our attention, daughter."

He snapped his fingers and the handkerchief sized tapestry rolled up in Wendy's hands and flew to his massive palm, resizing itself appropriately as it did.

"I will ensure the Fates gain this back and request they check if there are anymore missing." The sky lord stood from his throne. "This matter is closed. Now! We celebrate!"

* * *

Music for the party was provided by the Nine Muses. Andi through comparing notes with Wendy quickly realized that the melodies that reached the ears were whatever the listener desired. The gods could listen to classical music and the younger demigods heard hip-hop or whatever. It was an incredible bit of magic, but Andi wasn't surprised they could pull it off. They were goddesses of the arts after all.

Mr. D went around growing refreshment stands out of the ground, which were complemented by golden fountains that overflowed with nectar and ambrosia, and platters of mortal snack food and golden goblets that filled with any drink you wanted crowded the banquet tables.

Andi spotted Mr. D walking around arm in arm with a beautiful woman —his wife, Ariadne. Dionysus looked happy for the first time she'd known him. Well, he was whenever he didn't spot Andi, at which point his smile turned into a frown and he glared daggers at her. It seemed those weren't just metaphorical either, as the first time he glared at her all the food and drinks suddenly started to taste like ash in her mouth.

Looks like her throat would be a little dry tonight.

She still kept a goblet in hand though, she might not be able to enjoy the drinks but at least it gave her something to do. It wasn't like she could enjoy the party, as Mr. D had somehow cursed her to be unable to do that either. Where she should have been perked up and hyped up by the music and jubilant energy all around her, all she felt was bored.

Andi didn't care though, after the torturous quest she'd just gone through this was nothing.

Wendy looked concerned though and tugging on Andi's arm asked, "Andi, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Andi replied with a wary smile. It didn't fully reassure her partner, but the Aura didn't ask anymore questions.

Looking around the crowd of revelers, her eyes finally settled on her Father. The lord of the sky was busy chatting with what Andi guessed from the way wind was spiraling all around their bodies must be the Four Winds. Andi walked over in their direction, hoping to have a word with her dad, but she had barely made a couple of steps before he turned in her direction and shook his head before turning back to his conversation.

He seemed almost apologetic as he did so, but that was probably just a product of Andi's imagination.

 _Typical, why did I even bother?_ She asked herself, feeling somewhat hollow. Add in the Party Bummer Curse and she was having a _great_ time.

"Maybe we can go back to Camp soon?" Wendy offered encouragingly. "Of course, after being here for an appropriate time."

"Sure, don't want to give them a reason to smite me just yet." Andi quipped, stirring the contents of her goblet and watching it swirl around.

"Nonsense, you're one of the guests of honor. Plus, that'd be pretty stupid to do right in front of your father." A beautiful voice said, making Andi nearly jump.

And no, she most definitely did _not_ squeak.

Turning around, the aerokinetic saw the beautiful visage of her mother again, draped in a flowing gown that looked rather tasteful.

"Hello, Lady Aphrodite." Andi said nervously, Wendy fidgeting on her sandaled feet right next to her.

 _Okay, just calm down, stop fidgeting like you're in Second Grade._ Andi might not have liked all the etiquette lessons that Ida had forced her to go through, but she knew how important they were and was going to give it her best to put what she'd learned into practice.

The lady of doves glanced over at Dionysus and shook her head. "Don't mind him too much. He's a big old grump. Want me to mess with him and Adriane?"

"No! Please no!" Andi shook her head rapidly, she did not want Mr. D to have more reasons to gun for her!

The goddess of love just placed her hands on her hips. "Boo, that's boring. I love a good drama at a party."

"I'm sure you'll find something." Andi offered to the goddess nervously. As if that had provided the goddess some kind of inspiration, she locked those emerald green eyes of hers onto Andi's own blue ones as a mischievous smile spread across her face.

"Yes, I probably will." Aphrodite stroked her chin in thought. "Speaking of parties, how goes your plans for that cute little Ball you're going to? Have you picked a dress? Oh! I can't wait to see you in one."

"Yeah, Silena helped me pick one out." Andi replied nervously, the goddess' enthusiastic rant was throwing up a whole bunch of red flags. "I'm not looking forward to it though, I don't have a date."

"You have that friend of yours, don't you? That son of Apollo. Bill Solace?"

"It's Will." Andi corrected, though she was sure she didn't need to. "And he's unavailable. He went to see his mom for the winter holiday."

"Oh right. Will, William." The goddess dragged out the name, as if trying to memorise it. "Hm. So you say he's unavailable?"

"Yes." Andi repeated, growing more and more nervous as the Goddess of Love seemingly teased her about her crush.

Aphrodite tittered into her hand. "Why don't you try asking him anyways? You might be surprised."

Fear crept up Andi's spine at what the goddess could possibly be implying. "What are you going to do?"

Her words were stern and demanding, causing Wendy to tug on her sleeve and whisper urgently.

"Andi! Calm down." The Aura said with a shaky voice, looking terrified as she shot looks towards the love goddess.

Instead of smiting the demigod, the lady of doves cooed. "You are just adorable how you try and act all big and tough like your Father. Honestly, picture perfect moment. It makes me just want to pinch your little cheeks!"

Her anger was washed away as concern rushed in to replace it. "You mean the ones on my face, right?"

The reply she got was Aphrodite walking away, giggling the whole time.

The daughter of Zeus wanted to press the goddess for an answer, but Wendy nudging her and whispering to let it go and her own misgivings on what the answer might be held her back.

"Maybe it's best I don't know."

"You've got that right." Someone grunted from behind them. The voice didn't startle her. Not at all. Her feet had remained firmly planted on the ground, she did not yelp in surprise, and her heart did not feel like she'd just run a marathon.

Turning around, Andi came face to face with the smithing god, Hephaestus. The misshapen god squinted his eyes at her, looking at her up and down as if he was examining one of his mechanical contraptions.

"Hmm… I can see why she'd be interested in you." The god commented almost absently, before shaking his head in a disgusted manner. "Then again she'd be interested so long as it's got a warm body. Sometimes not even that."

"You're talking about Lady Aphrodite?" Andi asked cautiously. She knew that the two gods didn't get along, but she'd not imagined things were as bad as the scandalous description the god was making of his wife would suggest.

"Yes, my darling nymphomaniac of a _wife_." He snorted with contempt at the last word.

"Ah, okay. Just checking. Can I help you with something, sir?"

"Mm, let me see that bow of yours. It needs a tune up by more than mortal hands." He held out a large palm, making a 'Give me' motion.

Andi looked unsure, but caved since he was the one to make her weapon. She placed the keychain into his hand and he brought its bow form out. He hummed, eying it critically and he ran his free hand along the grooves that were lit with blue electricity. "Charge is still in there, good. Haven't even used a drop of it, shame."

"What?" The mortal looked confused by his statement.

"String needs to be redone, been a few millennia, so that's reasonable." He muttered to himself aloud, ignoring her completely as he fiddled with Skyline, pulling out a wind string from out of thin air and somehow fitting it into her weapon.

"Wow, thank you Lord Hephaestus." Andi said with a small amount of awe. That was really cool of him to do that.

"It's my creation, can't have it getting shabby. Besides, it wasn't for free." The Lord of the Forge told her as he passed her Skyline back.

In hindsight, Andi should've seen that coming.

"Do you need me to do a quest for you or something, Lord Hephaestus?" The mortal asked, trying to not show her weariness or her fatigue. She'd was completely knackered but she'd already foolishly allowed the god to finish tuning up Skyline so she was in his debt, if he demanded a quest she had no choice but to oblige.

"I'm not that greedy." The god gave a kindly smile, or at least he tried to. It came across more like a grimace. "All I want is for you to tell me how it held up against Chell and Caroline."

"Your daughter and lover." Andi said under her breath, the god nodding. She remembered what GLaDOS had told her, what Hephaestus had done to her. A small part of Andi wanted to ask him what really happened, because there was always two sides to a story. The larger, smarter, part told her to keep her curiosity to herself and roll with what he had to say. She didn't need Wendy squeezing her arm in warning to tell her that.

"Yes, them." The god said almost disinterestedly, as if he was asking this only as part of his assessment of Skyline's performance. There was a spark of something in his eyes though, a cross between excitement and outright madness that suggested otherwise. "How did the weapon do against them?"

"Pretty well, the blade cut right through most of their robots. My arrows pierced the machines pretty well too"

"Hm, so more in their infancy. Not good, but not bad. What about Caroline? Any small details you noted with her control over this foundry? Anything could be useful, for me." The lord of the forge paused, before hastily adding. "To, yes, to come up with some counters for her of course."

"From what I know-" A cough cut Andi off, making Hephaestus glare at the new arrival. Narrowed grey eyes cut into him dangerously in turn and the smith god grunted in annoyance but did nothing.

"Please pardon my interruption, but I would also like to know more about this new enemy." Athena said smoothly, gesturing for Andi to continue.

Andi's electric blue orbs shifted back and forth between the two Olympians. She felt like she was between a rock and a hard place, but on an extreme magnitude. After all, being between those two things would only kill you by squashing you. But being caught between two gods? That could lead to all kinds of terrible possibilities.

She knew better than to defy a goddess though, so she continued with her explanation.

"Right. Like I was saying, I'm not the most technologically savvy demigod around."

"Just tell us what you can." Athena offered with a kind smile, though it stood in contrast to the rest of her stern visage. "For example, how was the AI's control of her automatons? Was there any sign of lag?"

"It was like she was part of them, but wasn't." Andi said, feeling vexed by her wording.

"A hivemind." Athena and Hephaestus said, nearly as one.

"No, more like every machine was her but not her at the same time." Andi clarified. "At least that was the kind of presence I felt from them. Every time I looked at one, it felt like I was looking at GLaDOS but at the same time, all of them were GLaDOS."

"Instances." Hephaestus said with pride. "She's using instances to control her drones."

"What's that?"

"It's basically clones of yourself, but which aren't fully separate beings while still sharing the same mind. It's how we gods can be at two places at the same time." Athena explained, even as she looked at her brother with suspicion.

"And Chell, what can you tell us about her?" The fire god asked, the pride still ringing in his voice.

Andi shrugged, she hadn't really fought the other demigod so she didn't know much at all. "Only that she likes to make and use crazy scifi weapons and robots."

"She always did like her scifi." He said wistfully.

Athena was scowling now, "Brother, you do remember that they're our enemy, correct?"

Hephaestus just nodded half-heartedly, earning him a dark glare from the goddess of wisdom before she turned away from him to continue her questioning. "What can you tell us about their motives?"

"The only thing I could gauge was their wish to destroy the gods. They really hate Olympus."

"I wonder why." The goddess of war drawled, levelling accusing eyes on Hephaestus.

The fire god apparently having had enough of the goddess' looks, limped away. Athena gazed at his retreating form, wariness in her eyes.

"Be on guard, young mortal. Hephaestus isn't telling us all he knows."

"Yeah, I hear you on that one." Andi agreed instantly. That look in the god's eye put her on edge.

 _What can I do about it though?_ The demigod of Zeus thought to herself. _It's not like I'm going to strongarm him into giving me more info. Already nearly died too many times these past two days. Not looking forward to risking it again._

"You need not worry, Andromeda." Athena told her, breaking the girl from her thoughts. "I will investigate this matter."

This was the first time she met Athena, but she could already tell that she was a lot like Annabeth. Or Annabeth was a lot like her, she corrected herself. Strong, stern, confident, and wickedly smart. So it was an unhappy surprise to the demigod to see a worried crease on her face. "I am uneasy about this new enemy. Father is too quick to dismiss this. We are not fortified enough for a war on two fronts. Especially with one set of opponents as brazen as this AI and out of control demigod appear to be. We already have the Titans and that son of Hermes to deal with."

"Isn't Luke dead though?" Andi asked her hopefully. She saw his broken body, and despite Annabeth's firm belief it was hard to come back from that.

Athena flared her nostrils in annoyance. "No, like his father, young Castellan is tenacious. He still walks among the living. Sadly."

"Looks like Annabeth was right." Andi said sourly, looking grumpy over this news.

Athena eyebrows knitted together, as if the topic was annoying her further. "Yes. However, my daughter's horrendous interests aside, that is not what we are discussing. The Titans and their thralls are a known quantity. We can plan for them. In contrast, this new enemy is something entirely unknown."

"Yeah, one willing to outright kill mortals by the hundreds." Andi noted, as she recalled the massacre that Chell had happily ordered in San Francisco to force Andi to surrender.

"Which makes them no better than the Titans." Athena noted. "Which is worrisome."

Andi nodded, she didn't really get it. Weren't all their enemies equally bad?

Unaware or uncaring of Andi's confusion, Athena continued with a set of instructions, "I wish for you to inform me through Annabeth if you come across this GLaDOS or Chell again."

For a moment, they both stood there in silence as they pondered over this new threat. The only movement being Wendy shifting uneasily at the quiet.

"I support your friendship with my daughter." The goddess said suddenly. "Far more than I do her relationship with Poseidon's spawn at least."

"Thank you?" Andi accepted the war goddess' blessing with confusion.

The goddess just nodded magnanimously.

"I just wished to tell you that before I must leave. One last thing though, a word of warning. You must learn to better keep your fatal flaw and temper in check. It has already made you many dangerous enemies." At this Athena looked out at the party at someone on the other side of the room.

Andi followed her gaze and hung her head a little as she spotted Mr. D. "Yes, I'll, um, keep that in mind. Wait, what do you mean by _many_?"

"That, you must figure out on your own, little one." Athena quirked her lip and walked away, moving to talk to some other gods.

Andi sighed. _Why can't gods just be more blunt when they give advice?_

"Andi, can we sit down for a bit?" Wendy asked as her fidgeting got worse. "My legs feel like lead."

Feeling her own fatigue getting the better of her, Andi decided it _was_ time to just take a sit. The godly meetings were really wearing her out.

She and Wendy had just sat down on a nice little bench overlooking a small garden to take a break when a jovial voice called to her.

"I tell ya, Athena can be as cryptic as a prophecy." The speaker said as his arm wrapped around Andi's shoulder.

The daughter of Zeus looked to her side to see Apollo beaming at her.

"Oh, hello Apollo." Andi said, giving him a tired wave, trying to push some pep into her voice to return his cheery greeting.

"You jump for all of them but not me?" He told her with a pout, but there was something in his eyes that seemed almost disapproving. It disappeared before she could be sure it was even there though.

"I could bounce in my seat if it helps?" Andi weakly offered, causing the the god to shake his head even as he smiled in amusement.

"Andi!" Wendy hissed warningly.

Andi was too tired to interpret what she was worried about.

"Nah, takes the fun out of it." The sun god told her as he pulled up a chair, leaning on it as he smirked at her. "Still, overall good work out there, kiddo. Pops looked happy if anything."

Andi glanced at Zeus, who was conversing with Hera in a series of harsh whispers.

"I don't know, I think he's just embarrassed by me. I didn't do all that much."

Apollo shoved her shoulder lightly. "You helped save a major goddess. Trust me, Arte's going to remember that. So am I. In fact, how about I hit you up sometime for an archery lesson as my most magnificent thank you. Target practice from the sun chariot as we fly over the world? Best fun there is! I can sneak you off sometime while you're stuck in that old castle."

"Sounds great. Thanks!" Andi beamed back at him, feeling more genuinely happy than she had been since this whole party started. She gave a small laugh and a tired smile. "I'm pretty popular tonight, huh?"

Apollo chuckled as well, nudging his head towards Wendy. "Do me a favor sweetheart and go fetch me a goblet, I'm thirsty."

The little Aura nodded and scurried off to get the sun god what he desired, but not before shooting Andi a warning look.

Apollo breathed in deeply, looking far more serious than she had ever seen him. "Look, while the offer's genuine, there's other things that we've gotta hash out. Serious stuff. I'm a generous god, so I'm going to give you some info."

"Not future stuff right?" The demigod asked cautiously.

"What? No, of course not. But good catch, some mortals think that's all that they're getting from me. Never once a good poem or shout-out in a song. So ungrateful. Anyway, you've gotta avoid the gods for a while, a lot of them have got a serious bone to pick with you."

Andi looked stunned and worriedly asked. "W-What did I do?"

Apollo grimaced. "It's not all about you, it's mainly Pops' fault."

"Oh no…"

"You see." He patted her shoulder in condolence. "Sending you that dog of his and Ida to look after you? And then working that deal with Hecate for your immortality? All that's left some, a lot actually, of the gods pissed off. You know how we aren't supposed to interfere so much?"

Shoulders slacking, Andi put the pieces together. "He's doing double standards."

"Bingo!" Apollo cheered, looking pleased at himself that she had figured that out. "And that's what Athena was trying to say by the by."

"B-But I didn't ask for that!" Andi said in a rushed panic, standing up to be face to face with the god and leaning into his face to look at him imploringly. "All I wanted him to do was act kind of like a dad."

Apollo's aura flared a bit even as he snorted, before he gently pushed her away and guided her back to her seat. "Have you met Zeus?"

"Twice…"

"Then you know his parenting style. It's obvious within the first minute." The sun god rolled his eyes at her, resting his cheek against his fist. His eyes narrowed, almost into a glare, he continued to explain Andi's situation. "And don't act as if his gifts were for nothing. You've gained a _lot_ from them. Be more grateful. Honestly, I wish I could do as much for my kids."

"Great. When I want him to show me some affection and he does in his, Zeusish ways, it bites me in the butt. I just, what's the point of wanting anything anymore? Every time I do, it just bites me. And now other gods hate me! So any time I try and do something, they'll just try and make my day worse? Might as well just stay in bed." Andi griped bitterly, sinking into her seat with depression clear in her eyes.

Apollo just shrugged. "Maybe if you weren't so disrespectful to the gods, they could look past it."

"...I get it, my mouth is my enemy. What about Percy though? He's just as bad."

Apollo waved his hand in a seesaw motion, indicating his uncertainty. "While true, how to put this. Hmm… oh! We give him more slack because believe it not, Uncle P shows more restraint towards Percy. If barely. Plus, he has less of a track record of being a dick."

Andi nodded as an epiphany struck her. This just didn't just apply to the gods, but also others. Like the campers. They were probably upset with her over this to some degree too.

Thalia was a given, but Andi didn't really care about her opinion.

The god of the arts nodded. "Yep, that's why you've gotta be more careful on your next quest. Otherwise you'll get cursed by the other gods at every turn again."

" _Again_!?" She gaped at that. "Is that why my quest sucked so much?!"

Apollo nodded once more, making Andi groan in despair.

"Apollo! Get ovah heer!" A clearly drunk Hermes slurred out as he held up five goblets between his fingers and occasionally poured streams of alcohol, what else could they be, from them into his waiting mouth. "I need you, some chairs, and a turtle for this trick!"

"Carousel Catapult Turtle?! Yes!" Apollo whooped in glee, as he jumped up to join his godly brother in his merriment. He glanced back at Andi. "TTYL tiny sis! Be good! Hermes, I'll get Leonardo from my temple!"

Andi couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor turtle. Sadly, she was too shaken by the conversation to further her concern. It was official, this was the worst day of her life.

Gods hate her, people hate her…

Andi could have broken down over that and gotten all weepy but she was frankly stronger than that. So her life sucked right now, nothing had changed. Her life had always been tough. Besides, things were still a big improvement from her time at the Dursleys. She just needed to keep her chin up and bear with it. Maybe start thinking a bit more about how other people saw the things she had and did, so she didn't upset them unintentionally.

As she was contemplating this, Wendy came back with a golden goblet in hand looking around nervously.

"Andi, is Lord Apollo gone?"

Andi pointed to the dance floor.

Wendy looked and went white as a sheet. "That poor turtle…"

Andi nodded in agreement, the unlucky reptile was likely going to have nightmares from what Hermes and Apollo were making it do. That wasn't her problem though, so she looked away.

"Wendy, what took you so long?"

Turning away from the dance floor, the pale Aura gave a relieved sigh and replied. "Oh, I was just waiting for Lord Apollo to leave. He wanted some alone time with you, so I obliged. How did it go?"

"Oh. Yeah, we, we had a nice chat. Good times." Andi said, rubbing her eyes tiredly as she realized why Apollo had sent her partner away. She'd totally missed it when it happened.

Wendy frowned, "You don't sound like it was good at all."

"I have to agree with Wendy there," Annabeth said as she came over, a look of concern on her face. She took a seat next to Andi and asked. "You okay?"

Andi's eyes drifted left, eying her friend. "Kinda, just had a ton of stuff dropped on me is all. Still processing it."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Don't think you want me to yammer your ear off." Andi snorted.

Annabeth glared at her. "It's not yammering. Tell me."

The witch was hesitant, but Annabeth was one of, if not, her _best_ friend. If she couldn't confide in her than who else could she talk to? So she eventually just told her everything that she had just learned. The daughter of Athena nodded here and there as she listened, but didn't seem surprised at anything that Andi told her.

"I figured as much." Annabeth replied when Andi asked her why that was.

"I'm glad one of us did."

"Andi, you really need to change a lot of minds. Godly ones. And that's not easy. You're going to be Hecate's immortal champion, you're going to be working with a lot of these gods some day. Forever. You've got some fences to mend."

The child of sky lord rested her head on Annabeth's shoulder, looking up at her. "I figured as much, just not the how."

"Your first problem is how you address some of the gods." Annabeth told her, gaining Andi's interest. "You talk to them like they're friends and family. Not gods. They don't like that, their egos demand reverence."

"I try to remind her all the time." Wendy told Annabeth with a sigh. "But half the time, she just doesn't listen."

"I can imagine." Annabeth informed the Aura with a sympathetic smile, before turning back to Andi. "You really need to stop doing that, Andi. Not unless the god explicitly gives you leave to speak to them informally. I know Ida gave you lessons about this. You have to remember those lessons."

Wendy nodded along in agreement.

"Look, Bethy, I get it-"

"No, you don't." Annabeth cut her off. "Just look at how you were talking to Apollo."

"Yeah, but he's my brother. My really cool and chill brother."

Annabeth just stared at her.

"...Aw bollox." Andi muttered and leaned her body away from Annabeth, her cranium hitting the column next to the bench. "Ow. Deserved that. Okay, I messed up."

"Again."

"Again." Andi dryly glared at Annabeth.

"Don't get angry at me."

"I'm not, I just don't need anymore 'I told you so's tonight. I'll start… fixing this. Somehow. After I get some damn rest." Andi sighed in frustration. "One more thing to add on my foot long list."

The blonde smirked at her. "Who doesn't have one of those?"

"Right?" Andi agreed as they shared a laugh.

Wendy just shook her head in warm amusement.

"Thanks Annabeth, for being my friend. Even though I'm such a screw up."

"You're not a screw up, you're learning. And I can respect that."

"She's right Andi. And I respect you too!"

Andi smiled and pulled the two other girls into a hug, "Thank you. Both of you. Thanks a bunch."

* * *

The campers were all getting ready to head back to Camp, when they realized that they didn't know whether Bianca would be heading back with them. After a bit of debate, it was decided that the daughter of Zeus would go check with her and if she was, to bring her over to the group so they could head back together. Percy was a little put out by this, apparently wanting to talk to Bianca about something. Andi didn't care though, she knew Bianca _way_ longer than her cousin did so if anyone got the chance to catch up with her first, it was going to be her.

It took her a while of pushing pass reveling gods - the campers might be leaving, but the party was still in full swing - but Andi eventually spotted Bianca walking away from a heated conversation between Hades and Artemis in a dark corner.

She looked lost and intimidated by everything around her and Andi could sympathise, so she offered the other girl a comforting smile as she walked over to her.

"First time on Olympus huh? It's an interesting experience."

The newly dubbed daughter of Hades nodded to this, looking exhausted. "First the Underworld and now Olympus? It's mind blowing."

Andi patted her shoulder. "Felt that way too my first summer at Camp. Speaking of that, you, uh, coming back with us?"

Perhaps she sounded a tinge too hopeful, but the child of Zeus had high hopes for Bianca coming back with them. She didn't know what Hades' plans were, but since - last she heard, anyways - Nico was still at Camp, she thought her hopes were justified.

Her hopes were fulfilled when Bianca nodded. "Yeah, someone has to look after Nico. Gods know what trouble he's getting into without me around."

"Nah, he's with the Stolls. He's probably learning how to hustle when playing cards, at worst." Andi assured her.

Bianca went wide eyed at hearing this.

"Not helping Andi." Wendy chided, her arms crossed and frowning at Andi reprovingly.

The witch just nudged her. "I'm kidding, kidding."

 _Maybe. Nico's probably learning how to pick pockets by now, knowing those two._

"I hope you are." Bianca said sounding worried.

"Don't sweat it," Andi reassured. "Besides you can check to make sure soon, won't you?"

"True." Bianca acknowledged as they they continued to walk towards the rest of the campers.

They walked in companionable silence for a while, stopping occasionally to let a god saunter pass, before Bianca spoke up.

"Andi, thank you. You saved me."

The daughter of Zeus looked confused by this, so Bianca elaborated.

"I mean by telling me that I might be related to a death god. When I ran up to Talos to try and shut him down, everything was going wrong." The Italian shivered from the memory.

 _Talos? That's what took her out?_ Andi wanted to ask for clarification, but looking at her friend's reaction she thought better of it.

"I was scared, beyond anything else I was scared. So I prayed. Not to Artemis, but to a death god. I didn't think it would work, but I was scared enough to ty anything. Even gamble on you being right and one of them being my godly parent. First Hecate, than Thanatos, than Hades. I had just finished the prayer to my dad when the thing electrocuted me." Bianca shuddered, again shaken by the memory.

 _At least I know I can't go out like that._ Andi grimmly thought, feeling terrible for her friend.

"After that all I knew was that it was dark, everything hurt and then I woke up. In the Underworld." Bianca said, sounding confused by her own explanation.

"Dead?"

"No, alive. Which was what was so confusing." Bianca said with a shrug. "I _knew_ I was alive, somehow, but I also knew I was in the Underworld. It was freaky. And there was my Father, Hades, looming over me looking all worried and monumentally pissed off. At the same time."

"So what did he do?"

"He told me that he had answered my prayer and teleported me to his side. But by then I had essentially flat lined, so he used the magical equivalent of defibrillation to save me." Bianca played with her braid, looking happy as a smile graced her lips. "I thanked him and asked why he did it. Then he told me, looking hurt, that he was my father."

 _Uncle Hades, looking hurt?_ Andi's mind boggled at the mere prospect and if Wendy's stunned look was anything to go by she wasn't the only one.

"I know right." Bianca said with a smile. "Who would've thought it? The Lord of the Underworld upset because his kid didn't recognize him. But he was. So I apologized. Then he told me that I had a choice."

Andi raised her brow in question.

"Either go back to Lady Artemis' service or go live at Camp. He said that I couldn't leave until I made up my mind. The Hunt was fun, but… Well, Father didn't seem to approve and then there was Nico. He told me how worried Nico was about me being in the Hunt. Plus, I kinda already died for it. So I choose the latter."

Her excitement at the prospect of having her friend as company at Camp getting the better of her, Andi hugged Bianca. "Welcome to Team Camp Half-Blood, girl! "

The daughter of Hades laughed at her friend's excitement. "Looking forward to it."

"So, what was all that talk with Lady Artemis about?" Andi asked, glancing back at the maiden goddess as she released Bianca from her hug.

"She was trying to get me to rejoin the Hunt." Bianca frowned. "I refused but she was getting pushy. She was respectful about it, but still pushy. Then my Father came in, getting angry at her. It was pretty intense."

"Don't worry." Andi promised with a dark grin. "She's got her hands full with Thalia. She should keep her busy for a good decade."

She sounded cold and dismissive at this, like it wasn't a worry at all.

"W-Well," Bianca replied uneasily, clearly unsettled by Andi's tone. "Okay. If you're sure."

"Yep!"

Another silence fell over them, this one unfortunately not as comfortable as Bianca kept shooting worried looks at Andi. It was clear she wanted to ask what was going on between her and Thalia, but a shake of Wendy's head seemed to stop her.

Before long, they regrouped with Percy, Annabeth, and Grover at the elevator down to the ground floor of the Empire State building.

"Hey Bianca." Percy greeted, looking relieved that she was alive.

Bianca nodded to him, smiling a little, as the whole group filed into the elevator.

As they finally got comfortable in the relatively cramped elevator, the son of Poseidon reached into his pocket and pulled out a small figurine. "Here, you uh, dropped this."

The daughter of Hades looked at it for a moment, her eyes wide before she suddenly burst into tears as she knocked it out of Percy's hand.

For a moment, everyone was stunned by the reaction. After getting over the shock, Andi reacted quickly and smacked Percy upside the head.

"What did you do?!" She hissed at her waterlogged cousin.

"Nothing! She really dropped that at the junkyard!" He told her in a low tone, a little wide eyed at the reaction. "She picked it up for Nico."

"And it got me killed." Bianca told Percy tearfully.

"Nice one, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth glared at him as she tried to help Andi comfort Bianca.

He turned to Grover for some help.

"You're on your own, man."

"Thanks G-Man, honest."

"It's what I do." The satyr told him with a pat on his head. Percy brushed the hand away, looking grumpy.

The elevator dinged, signalling that they had reached the lobby.

"Let's just head back to Camp, we can chide Percy on his stupidity once we get home." Andi told him with a glare.

"I concur." Wendy nodded sternly, yet adorably.

"I'll get us a taxi." Percy said, quickly shuffling out of the lobby to get away from the girls.

Grover glanced at the girls, giving a nervous bleat. "Percy! Wait up!"

"Amazing, they do learn." Annabeth quipped with a smirk of satisfaction.

* * *

The taxi ride back was pretty uneventful, the only thing of note was that their group was too large for a single taxi so they were forced to split themselves between two cabs. The guys took one and the girls all squeezed into another.

At their arrival at camp, things went just as uneventfully. Sure, there was a counsellor's meeting but Andi didn't care much about it. They talked about the Great Prophecy, that it was now either about Percy or herself or possibly, though unlikely, even the di Angelos; this then led into the fact that there were a pair of Hades children at camp now, which made some of the other councilors uneasy and left Chiron looking resigned; and lastly the possibility of her granddad attacking the Camp to strike at the gods. All of which was old news that Andi frankly didn't think they needed to discuss straight away.

By Olympus, the only thing that really caught her interest was the fact that Clarisse was coming back from some secret mission from Chiron. Idly she wondered what that was about, but it wasn't urgent and she trusted her friend to be able to handle herself. So even then, to her the whole thing was a bloody waste of her time. The only thing that kept her from very vocally letting them know that was her exhaustion and Wendy's restraining presence.

After the meeting Andi had planned to just head back to her Cabin to crash for the night, but the first thing she saw when she got to the Cabin changed her mind. There sitting in front of her the moment she stepped through the door was Thalia's stuff, at the sight of which a deep anger burned in her. This gave her the strength, despite her exhaustion, to dump everything, with Wendy's help, into a box and put it out of sight so she'd never need to see it again. She was pretty rough about it and ended up wrecking a few of the CDs, shattering the Telly remote, and ripping a few posters, not that she cared. After all the grief that Thalia gave her, Andi felt that the other girl deserved it.

Once that chore was done, the demigod stumbled into her wardrobe, and fell onto her bed with a groan. Wendy trailed after her but by this point, Andi was too tired to notice.

A bark got her drifting attention as a weight joined her on the bed.

Weakly, she patted Hunter on the head. "Good bo-"

The day finally proving too much for her, she failed to finish her sentence before the pull of Morpheus proved too great.

* * *

 **And done! Phew, that was a long one guys. Thanks to the team of Nameless and Axios as usual.**

 **I know it's crazy long guys, but we had to get a lot in. Plus it was fun to expand the council meeting and celebration afterwards.** **Good time placement on this chapter huh? The next one might have been better, but oh well, its how it all lines up I guess. Merry X-Mas and all other holis guys!  
**

 **Nameless: A lot happened this chapter, no? I particularly like the foreshadowing we did for some of the cool ideas with have in store for Chell and GLaDOS. Anyone want to try guessing what we have planned for on that front?**

 **Oh and Bianca's alive… Ha! I fooled you all! Like hell I was gonna let her die after all the one scene dev I put into her. Or two scenes, yeah it was two. So haha! No emo Nico, Bianca gets her own spotlight, and Andi's got another buddy. Yay!**

 **So Andi's got some issues with the gods, but that just makes the story have a redemption arc feel to it. And I honestly like that, makes her strive for something by the end of the story. Plus Apollo acts very chill so it's hard to not just get into a friendly conversation, though his ego makes it obvious that he wasn't all happy with Andi.**

 **Nameless: Ah, yes, about that. We got several communications (reviews, PMs, etc.) that we were making things feel a lot like Worm. Let me tell you, I have never heard such a great compliment for our fic before. To be compared to that masterpiece is an amazing thing. So we thought since we're doing that already, we'd live up to it. Just kidding. We aren't going to that extent of grimdark. We did like the complimentary comparison though. That said, we will continue to at least be a pale shadow of it and push Andi into difficult situations to further her character development.**

 **He's kidding, #LeaveAndiBe. Please? TT_TT**

 **Nameless: Nope. She needs to go through tough situations to grow up.**

 **And she is, I just mean not at Worm level, too often.**

 **Nameless: I did say we'd back off. [pouts] Anyways, I'll be honest though and admit that a lot of the bad stuff was the result of us doing things to Andi, usually good things, that when we sat down to think about it would lead to bad consequences for her. Consequences that have come home to roost.**

 **My bad!**

 **Nameless: Just promise to think of the consequences a bit more when we introduce an idea. I hate being the bad guy and making Andi suffer because of those consequences. But you know me and the need to maintain a semblance of realism in the fic.**

 **Hey, that was a long time ago when it was in its crack format, who thinks up consequences for crack fics? No one!**

 **Nameless: Fair. Just no more crack ideas. Please. TT_TT**

 **Just be glad I never brought up the penguin army concept, the nightmares to behold.**

 **Nameless: Don't tell me, I don't want to know. [Averts his eyes]**

 **Well our bickering aside, this was a fun chapter to write. So with that, smash that review button and leave us your comments! Don't flame and of course, peace off my peeps!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter**

 **The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans**

 **Chapter Thirteen: A Merry Grateful Yule**

 **Beta: ShadowofAxios**

* * *

After finally getting a well deserved restful night's sleep, Andi woke up to find out that while she'd collapsed in her cabin in exhaustion that Camp had been invaded by the Skeletal Warriors that had been chasing Percy and the others for the bulk of their quest. Thankfully, Nico had proved he was as much of a child of Hades as Bianca by conjuring up a sinkhole that swallowed them up before closing up. Apparently, the boneheads had the 'bright' idea to attack Percy while he was having some kind of heart to heart with the young boy and he didn't take too kindly to be being interrupted.

There was a story there as both Percy and Nico were a little too flustered about their "heart to heart". Unfortunately, Andi didn't have time to dig any deeper right then, so after having enough breakfast to feed a small army, she returned to Hogwarts to get ready for the Yule Ball. Ida and her friend from the Forbidden Forest, Mera, had held down the fort at the castle well. All thanks to a liberal use of Mist. They were nevertheless relieved to see Andi return, apparently a few wizards had gotten suspicious.

Especially since Mera couldn't resist trying to convince people to go green. Things like tips on how to do better trash disposal; encouraging them to use compact fluorescent light bulbs; and of course, advocating that they fix the terrible plumbing. This left the poor wizards thoroughly confused, since they didn't know the first thing about what most of that meant.

Just imagining their looks of confusion was enough to bring a smile to Andi's face.

"I take it you like the dress, then?" Silena asked from her end of the I.M.

It was the night of the Yule Ball and Andi was doing her final checks before she went down to embarrass herself at the party. Andi had got in touch with her friend from Aphrodite Cabin for help getting ready for the event a couple of weeks ago. The other girl had readily agreed and helped Andi pick out a dress and was now helping to guide her through the final touches.

The daughter of love was acting a little odd though. While it was a given that she would be enthusiastic about something like this, the sheer zeal she showed was a little much especially since she was normally a lot more restrained. Then that was that strange air of guilt that hung around her, and the odd comments she kept making about how this was her way for making up for things. Andi had tried to press her for what she meant but Silena just clammed up, so Andi let it go. She didn't want to risk their friendship by pushing too hard.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. It's wonderful." Andi said quickly, trying to hide the fact that she'd been distracted.

"Really?" The daughter of Aphrodite asked skeptically, "I still think you'd look better in a fancier ballroom gown."

"I'm not really a dress gal, Silena." Andi nervously commented. "Baby steps."

"I know." The other girl said with a sigh. "Just be sure to get the bow on the right side of your hair, corsage on the left wrist."

If Andi was honest, the dress she'd settled on was still a little outside her comfort zone. She didn't like dresses in general, but it was still tolerable. It was a rather simple white dress that flowed down to Andi's ankles. Black straps held it up on her slim shoulders. The top and waist were trimmed black. It was complimented by a black choker and a pair of glass slippers. The latter serving to add a fairytale vibe to it. The whole outfit was completed by a blue bow ribbon and a handful of lilies that were worked into her hair.

"Like that?" Andi asked as she fiddled with the bow.

"You, look, so adorable! If I.M.s had a hug feature, I would be squeezing you to death."

Suddenly, Wendy materialized seemingly out of nowhere and hugged Andi. "Or, I can just do it on your behalf!"

"That works too." The daughter of Aphrodite said with a giggle.

Andi hugged her partner back even as she rolled her eyes. Wendy just joined Silena at giggling, and backed off.

A flash went off, making the daughter of Zeus' eyes widen. She looked to her side to see Ida, camera in hand. The mountain nymph had a smile on her face.

"You look like a snow fairy."

Andi's face heated up instantly at this, and she shuffled her feet.

"You think so?"

"Of course." Ida said with confidence. "And when your Father sees this photo, so will he."

"R-Really?" The sky lord's child asked with pleasant surprise.

"I'm sure of it."

"I agree with Ida." Silena said with a wistful smile. "I wish I could be there or stay longer."

"It's ok, Silena. I'm done getting ready anyway."

"Still…"

"Don't worry about it."

"In that case," Silena said with a disappointed sigh. "I should go. Have fun Andi!"

With that Silena cut the I.M.

"I think this is our cue as well."

"Already?" Wendy asked, sounding torn.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"We're off to have our own little party in the Forbidden Forest with the local nymphs for the night." Ida said with a warm smile and a twinkle in her eye. "I was invited by the local dryads." Placing an arm around Wendy, she continued. "Someone has to teach our little Aura the right way to party."

"You're gonna get knackered, aren't you?" Andi dryly accused.

"Maybe a little."

"I'm not, right?" Wendy asked Ida, looking up at her worriedly.

"Oh, you are. Trust me."

"Have fun." Andi said with a pout.

She'd never been plastered before.

Andi was genuine in wanting the two nymphs to enjoy themselves, but she was also a little sad that she wouldn't have company at the Yule Ball.

Ida seemed to see that and placed her hands comfortingly on her shoulders. "Andi, we really just want to let you get a chance to have a fun night by yourself."

"I'll try to." Andi replied uncertainly.

"That's all I ask for." Ida said with a encouraging smile. "If you try, I'd think that you'll be surprised."

With that enigmatic reply, Ida gave Andi's shoulders one last squeeze before letting go, taking hold of Wendy's hand before the two transformed into a breeze and shot out the nearby window.

Andi scratched the back of her head in confusion. "Wonder what she meant by that."

From her roost in the corner, Hedwig hooted a reply.

"Yeah, I know she's right." Andi dropped into a chair, a contemplative look on her face. She glanced back at Hedwig. "I'll try to have fun. But how?"

Hedwig hooted again.

"What's the problem?" The demigod asked. "Well, how about the fact that I don't have a date? How's that for a little touch of social suicide."

Hedwig rolled her eyes.

"Hey, that's a serious deal, Hed!" Andi scowled. "I'm already in single digits when it comes to the social score. I don't need to fall into the negative here. Enough people think shite of me already. I'm sick of it."

The owl just hissed dismissively.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't let what people say affect me. Easier said than done, though. Got any other wise PSAs in your beak?"

Hedwig just shrugged her wings.

"Great help you are." Andi blew at her bangs and moved to stand up.

A whistle was her only reply.

"Ok, ok. I'm going."

The daughter of Zeus sighed, trying her best to compose herself as she walked to the door.

What she saw as she exited the suite left her stunned. Waiting for her just outside the door was Will. He was dressed in a fine black suit and tie. He looked, um, rather dreamy if she were honest. Like, he cleaned up, amazingly. Not that he wasn't good looking before! It was, well...

Even as her mind rambled on, she just stood there staring at him as heat raced to her cheeks.

"H-Hey."

She tried to come off as casual, but her voice came out as a squeak.

"Hey." He waved back at her, smiling awkwardly.

"Um, not complaining, but how did you get here?"

"Aphrodite." The blond explained with a shudder.

That explained so much, yet so little.

"When the goddess of love tells you to do something, you just nod your head. Advice for a lifetime."

Andi nodded knowingly. "I can live by that."

The two halfbloods shifted uneasily, shooting each other looks and then quickly looking away.

"So err…" Andi started uncertainly once the silence grew too uncomfortable. "Should I use a pickup line? Or maybe you should, because you're the guy?"

"Maybe we both should?" Will offered with a teasing smile.

"Maybe." Andi replied with a laugh, one which Will quickly joined in on. The mood lifted, she smiled at her date - She was still trying to wrap her mind around that - and asked, "So, wanna head to the Hall?"

Will nodded and offered her his arm, all gentleman like.

Blushing, Andi slipped her arm into Will's.

Arm in arm, the two friends headed towards the Great Hall.

* * *

As Andi and Will walked down the stairs to the entrance hall that led into the Great Hall, she was greeted by yet another pleasant surprise. Standing there in the crowd milling outside the door to the Great Hall were Percy and Annabeth.

Annabeth was dressed in a silver gown, her curly princess hair was tied up in a fashionable bun and she looked stunning. Percy was looking good too. He was wearing a dark blue suit -Because of course it was blue- even if his tie was crooked and his hair was in its usual surferesque mess.

By Will's own look of surprise, he didn't know they were going to be there either.

Curious to figure out what was going on, they walked over to their fellow halfbloods.

"How did you even get here?" Andi asked Percy and Annabeth.

"I asked my mom." Annabeth told her with a smirk.

"And she brought Percy too?" Andi asked doubtfully.

"You think?" Percy said with a shake of his head. "I might have ended up in Alaska if she did. I asked my dad. Annabeth didn't want you going to this thing without backup. Some girl code. And she needed a date, so I prayed to my dad for some help. The only bad thing about it was that my dad's teleport had me ending up in the lake. I was lucky that Bob the giant squid was super chill."

"His name is Bob?" Andi raised a brow.

"Yup."

"Huh, go figure."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Okay you two, show's over. We've got a ball to go to."

"Leave it to you to take charge." Will commented with a teasing smile.

"Watch it, Doogie."

The son of Apollo held his hands up in mock surrender.

By now, the crowd outside the Great Hall had grown pretty big, and a lot of glances were turning towards the daughter of Zeus.

Ever since the First Task, the Hogwarts students had started treating her strangely. Some had started to grudgingly warm up to her. Apparently after Cedric's death, they saw her as the only chance for Hogwarts to win the Tournament.

Even if she wasn't! Not that they cared, the arses.

Plus the callous jerks didn't seem to care about Cedric's fate beyond the fact that his death meant that Hogwarts had lost its Champion.

Though those that _did_ remember Cedric, weren't any nicer to Andi either. In fact they were worse. A lot them were calling her a _thief_ for stealing the spotlight in light of Cedric's recent death. Almost the entire Hufflepuff House were part of this group. She got that they were the house of loyalty and that they wanted to stand up for their late housemate's memory, but getting angry at her was unfair. Understandable, but still not kosher.

Will and Percy glared back at some of the mean looks, forcing many of them to avert their gaze. Percy's look was downright terrifying, and Andi couldn't help but be impressed that the wizards didn't melt under his gaze much less that some had the guts to glare back. That said, glaring at these people who were only acting out their grief was wrong.

"Guys, stop." Andi told the boys. "They don't deserve it."

"Andi, wha-"

"Just stop it." Andi said with a shake of her head. "I'll explain later."

"It's got something to do with the boy who died in the First Task, doesn't it?" Annabeth guessed.

Both male halfbloods shot Andi shocked looks at this bombshell.

"Bingo, so let's just drop it. 'Kay?"

The boys exchanged a look before nodding.

"Alright, with that out of the way." Annabeth said, closing the case on the matter, she turned to face the door of the Great Hall, her grey eyes narrowed. "Let's do this."

"To war." Percy dryly cheered, his fist slightly raised in the air.

"Hazzah?" Andi agreed, maybe. She nonetheless walked over to the door.

"You'll have to wait a little longer, Andi." Dumbledore said with a amused smile, as he walked over. "But if you and your date would follow me, we need to get ready to start the Ball."

Will shot Andi a confused look.

"Oh, I forgot about that." The daughter of Zeus said with a nervous laugh, before turning to Will and explaining. "As one of the Champions, I and my date are expected to start off the Ball with the first dance."

"Yes," the Headmaster said with a nod. "That's the only dance that's compulsory though, take that as you will. Now come along. Professor McGonagall is waiting."

Will looked relieved, clearly reassured by that. Together they waved goodbye to Percy and Annabeth and after exchanging promises to meet up later, followed Dumbledore.

"On another note, I would like to apologise to you Andi about how the students have been treating you lately. After, the First Task things have been difficult." The old wizard said sounding apologetic for and disappointed in his students. "Ah. There's Professor McGonagall with the other Champions and their dates. Go ahead and join them."

"Come come, Potter. Good on you to _finally_ get a date." The high strung professor told her, shooing her and Will behind Krum and his date. "Line up with the other Champions if you will."

"You ready for this?" Will leaned down to whisper into Andi's ear.

"As I'll ever be."

Any further conversation was cut short as McGonagall had began to lead the Champions into the Hall.

* * *

The walls of the Hall had all been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. The House tables had vanished; instead, there were about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people.

The Champions, their dates, the Headmasters and the handful of Ministry officials involved with the Tournament had a reserved table right at the front but Andi and Will decided to ditch it as soon as they could. Andi couldn't stand the company. The only person she found personable there was Dumbledore but he'd been forced to leave by dessert. Apparently there was something that came up in the kitchens that needed his attention.

After everyone was finished with dinner, it was time for the first dance. By her dad's beard, Andi was nervous. Ida had helped her learn the basics of the waltz, so she didn't make a complete fool of herself thankfully. Will on the other hand took the lead pretty easily, and proved to be very light on his feet.

Must've come from being the son of the god of the arts. The way of the dance was strong in this one.

It came to an end without the need of a crash cart, so Andi was feeling pretty jazzed.

Especially since they were loads better than Annabeth and Percy.

Let it be known that Percy could slash a monster to ribbons, but couldn't cut a rug to save his life. Annabeth was only a bit better. It was certainly a laughable moment.

Walking over to them as the first dance ended, Andi was intent on ribbing her cousin mercilessly over this fact.

"Percy, you really need to work on your footwork." Will offered kindly as they found their friends at a table near the back of the Hall, apparently taking a rest after their disaster of a dance.

"I'll remember that the next time you have a swordsmanship lesson." The son of Poseidon shot back.

"Don't worry, I'll patch you up. Or do you want a water bottle?"

Both boys smirked at each other before breaking into laughter.

Andi quirked a brow at Annabeth. "How dorky are they?"

"By my estimate? To the max."

"Indubitably." The daughter of Zeus replied even as she stifled a giggle.

Percy pouted at this while Will had a mock offended look on his face.

"I think we need a drink after that kind of burn." The son of Poseidon told the other demigod.

The blonde agreed and the two boys headed off to get drinks from a refreshment table.

"Shame we don't have refreshments here at the table. Maybe then the boys wouldn't get lost on the way to the punch bowl." Andi had a small grin on her face.

Annabeth just smiled at Andi's joke and nodded, "Yeah, but I suppose the people originally here wanted drinks themselves."

"True."

"So, Andi, how are you enjoying the Ball so far?"

"It's ok." The daughter of Zeus said with a shrug, but rubbed her ear. "Can't say I like the music."

"Music? You call that music?" Percy asked incredulously as he and Will returned with drinks for everyone. "I'd say it's more like noise. Of the ear splitting variety."

"Too much culture shock?" Annabeth asked even as she offered her date a thankful smile and took the goblet he offered.

"More like culture murder."

"My dad must hate these guys." Will commented as he handed Andi her goblet and they listened to the 'Weird Sisters' band as they belted out their top song, 'Do The Hippogriff'.

"Silver and Quill do that dance way better." Andi commented, as the song made her want to still the air around the band. She wouldn't, but it was slowly becoming more tempting.

"They listen to this trash?" Percy asked in shock.

"No, but like I said," Andi pointed to the singer, doing some awkward chicken dance, "they can just dance better."

"I'm sure they do." Annabeth said with a roll of her eyes. "Personally, I'm more curious about why some of the guys are wearing those weird suits? Dresses? Suit dresses?"

"Tradition." Andi snorted, looking at some of the zany outfits. "I mean, look at Ron."

She pointed him out on the dance floor with his date - the fact that he had one was something that amazed Andi to be honest - in all his ruffled glory.

"He looks like a pirate."

"And now he's coming over here, be nice." Annabeth chided Percy.

"Yo, Andi, how ya doing? Enjoying the Ball?" The redhead asked as he walked up to the group with his date. She was a brown haired girl that Andi recognized as Lisa Turpin from Ravenclaw. The daughter of Zeus didn't know anything else about her though.

From what she'd seen so far Andi thought the two looked quite happy together, though Lisa looked cross at seeing Andi.

Great, another _fan_.

"Everything's great, Ron. You?"

"Same. So-"

Ron was interrupted though as a new song started up and Lisa tugged on his arm. "Ron, I like this song. Let's go dance."

"Huh? Oh sure." Ron said distractedly, even as he turned back towards the dance floor. "See you later, Andi."

Andi offered him a wave as he and his date joined the mass of dancers.

"Huh, didn't see that coming. That girl was pretty." Percy blinked as he watched the pair walk away. "Points to the ginger."

Andi punched him in the arm. "What happened to being nice?"

"What? It was a compliment." Percy protested with Will nodding in agreement.

Both girls just groaned at their dates' lack of tact.

After that, the four friends sat chatting for a good ten minutes. Andi was tempted to ask Percy about what happened with Nico, but she was tactful enough to know that probably should be a private conversation, so saved it for another time.

"I would have thought people would be swarming you." Annabeth said as she glanced at the other Champions who were constantly being approached. "Like the other Champions."

Andi laughed. "Ah! How the people loath me, my dear Bethy. Meh, what else is new. In fact, I bask in it!"

"So we're the outcast table? I can handle that." The son of Poseidon smirked as he sipped his drink.

Just then, the Weird Sisters left the stage for a break and the orchestral instruments suddenly animated to life and began playing a waltz.

"And finally that screeching has stopped." Percy commented, even as Annabeth slapped his arm in warning.

A good number of the dancers were leaving the dance floor but those that remained were now shifting from the club dancing of the earlier songs into a slower romantic waltz. They were being joined by a handful of couples as well, who were drifting onto the floor.

Andi looked on a little wistfully, wondering whether she'd ever get to dance with someone like that.

A tap on her shoulder made her turn to see Will holding out his hand. "May I have this dance?"

"Smooth."

Annabeth stepped on Percy's foot.

"Ow!"

Before Andi could accept however, someone called out to her. The daughter of Zeus would have ignored whoever it was but by the widening of her friends' eyes, she thought better of it.

Turning to face the direction the voice had come from, she saw Thalia walking towards her purposefully, in all her silvery glowing glory.

"Shouldn't you be in a bush hunting a bunny?" Andi sneered as the newest lieutenant of Artemis reached the group.

Let it be known, Andi was not charitable when her date was being interrupted. Let alone her _first_ date.

Thalia scowled at her. "Funny. We need to talk."

"So talk."

"In private."

Andi glanced at her friends and sighed. "Fine, let's hurry this up. There's a garden out front."

The two sisters walked in uncomfortable silence for a moment, before Andi couldn't resist taking another jab at the older girl.

"You know, you're pretty underdressed for the occasion. A snow jacket and jeans? You do know it's a Ball, right?"

"Whatever." Thalia snorted, as they approached the garden.

 _Huh, she's not biting my head off. Two days with Artemis and she's almost a proper human being. Guess Christmas miracles do happen._

Thalia took a quick glance around, and headed off towards a gazebo hidden in the middle of all the ornamental shrubbery, Andi following behind her. They found a couple making out there, which brought a blush to Andi's face but one of disgust to Thalia's, but the Hunter just brandished her knives and scared the poor lovebirds off.

 _And I take that back, I think she's gotten worse._

"So what do you want to talk about?" Andi asked as she took a seat.

"Sisterhood."

"Wow, you're actually acknowledging that we're related?"

"Can you be serious for once?"

"Can you actually grow up?"

Tension grew between them before Thalia groaned, rubbing her eyes. "The faster I say this, the faster I can leave. So shut up and listen!"

"Sure, spill your guts." Andi smiled brightly.

Thalia's hands tightened around the hilts of her daggers, as if she'd dearly wish to draw them and gut Andi but she held back. Through gritted teeth, she instead started to explain what she was doing here.

"Look, I don't want to be here but Lady Artemis insisted. Something about giving me a chance to say a proper goodbye."

 _Good to know it_ only _took a goddess to make you talk to me like I actually matter._

"She thinks I'm being a jerk not to. That and Annie asked me to as well."

"Bethy?"

"Yeah, something about how it would do me some good."

Both daughters of Zeus snorted at that.

"Well, you're here. Ain't that just peachy." Andi rolled her eyes. "By the way, you left your shite behind in the cabin. Tossed it in a box somewhere. You ever want it, you know where to find it."

"I'll come pick it up the next time I'm in Camp."

"Oh? When's that going to be?" Andi asked curiously.

Thalia just shrugged. "Whenever Lady Artemis wants us to pay a visit."

 _That doesn't sound like it's going to happen anytime soon. Not with the war effort on full tilt._

The two girls fell into a long, uncomfortable silence. Something that served to spike Andi's anger.

She'd let go of Thalia, but now just two days later she comes right back? It was annoying! Especially because she says she wanted to talk and now didn't have anything to say!

As Thalia continued to play mute, Andi lost her cool.

"Cat got your tongue!?" Andi accused.

Thalia tried to respond, but the witch had worked up a head of steam and she wasn't going to let herself be interrupted until she was done venting.

"You are an utter bint, do you know that?" The younger daughter of Zeus hissed. "An utter hypocritical, colossal, mega bint. So it's selling out with what I did with Hecate, but when you do basically the same thing with Artemis it's perfectly fine? As long as it's you doing it? Looks like we're both sellouts."

Thalia winced a little at this, apparently she was at least able to see how hypocritical she was on that front.

"No worries though! You found a new little family you can run to just because life got hard. I'm gonna guess the last two days has been the best days of your life since getting out of a tree. Am I right? I mean, who needs your sister by blood? You've got a bunch of girls who probably don't know what a period means."

"That's not true!" Thalia retorted.

Andi gave her a dubious look.

"...Only some don't." Thalia's freckled face flustered in annoyance.

"My point stands." Andi leaned back in her seat, staring hard at her 'sister'.

"I know I've said it, but it bears repeating. You're a hypocrite!" The witch said with a glare. "You didn't want a family, that's why you rejected me. That's what you said, right? But then you find a family in the Hunters? I'll say it a third time. Hypocrite!"

"Are you done?" The Hunter asked her.

"Oh, by all means. Speak. I know you have trouble doing so. I'll wait." Andi gave the older girl her full attention.

Thalia gritted her teeth, obviously trying to stop herself from saying something that would cause the tense situation to explode. Taking a calming breath, she finally took the reins of the conversation.

"Ok, I'll admit that I'm a hypocrite." Thalia said grudgingly. "I did exactly like you said. I rejected the family you offered and then joined the Hunters and found one there. But can you blame me?"

"Yes."

Again Thalia looked ready to strangle the younger girl, but barely restrained herself and continued. "Really? And you think your insane expectations didn't play a part? Did you even once think that when I first came out of the tree I wasn't looking for a family?"

"You obviously changed your mind."

"Yes, I did. But that took _time_! When I got out of that tree, all I wanted was space to get readjusted and you _wouldn't let me_. You kept pushing and pushing for us to be all sisterly. You didn't even once think about whether I was ready for it. Not once."

Andi wanted to retort, but she found herself tongue tied. That, that might have been true.

"And by the time I _was_ ready to try to open up to the idea of maybe having family again, things between us were so bad that it wouldn't have worked out. I hated you, I admit it. I hated you for how pushy you were, for how obvious it was that dad liked you better, and at how much better you seemed to be at everything. But even then I _tried_! At Crissy Fields I tried and _you_ brushed me off!"

"I was willing to listen, but all you did was get angry and storm off."

Thalia shook her head at that. "You're a selfish bitch, you know that?"

"Wha-"

"I opened up to you then. I tried to explain to you my feelings and meet you halfway, but did you appreciate it? _No_! You basically said you didn't care how I felt. Of course, I got angry. Do you know how difficult it is to open up to someone? Especially someone you hate?"

"No, I don't. Here's the thing though, by the time you decided to open up? I was tired of trying." The witch admitted softly. "People have limits Thalia, and I had one of a saint for you. I took all your comments, swallowed it down with a dumb smile and just waited. I waited and waited and got nothing. It took thinking I was _dead_ before you changed your mind. How am I supposed to feel about that? I get it, you opened up and that's nice, but too little too late."

"Trust me, I can see that." Thalia said angrily. "I know where you are now. You're feeling what I felt when I was pissed at you for being super clingy. So I'm not angry at you for rejecting me now. I didn't come here expecting a reconciliation, no matter what Lady Artemis thought. What I _do_ want however is for you to see that you were at fault for this too. Consider it my only act of sisterly kindness, or whatever, but I'm not going to let you live your life thinking you were completely blameless here."

The younger sister leaned her head back to look up at the wintery sky. It was a largely cloudless night and the stars were shining brightly in the sky. The beautiful sight offered Andi little comfort though as she made an uncomfortable admission. One she'd made one too many times already.

"Yeah, I, I can see that. I can rub people the wrong way. Ain't perfect, I'm not afraid to admit it."

 _Why do I keep having to learn this lesson? It's getting old._

"We both screwed up, fair deal?" Andi admitted as she tilted her head back down to stare Thalia in the eyes.

"Deal." Thalia agreed as she offered her hand. "Shake on it?"

Andi quirked her lip and reached her hand out. "Deal."

The two girls sealed their understanding. From now onwards they wouldn't be sisters to each other. This fact left them both feeling relieved.

"I'll see ya around?" The champion of Hecate asked, trying to sound nonchalant but failing to fully suppress the tinge of loss that seeped in. She might have been relieved about the outcome but that didn't mean she wasn't also broken up about it.

If Thalia picked up on it, she made no sign. Instead, she just shrugged and stood up.

"Maybe."

Andi stood up as well and the two began walking back towards the castle when their instincts suddenly started screaming danger. Both of them tensed and they glanced around, looking for the source of their unease. They soon narrowed their focus on the rustling of a patch of bushes a few feet to their right.

The two girls were about to get a closer look when suddenly two forms burst from the foliage and charged at them. A large hulking one zeroed in on Thalia, while a leaner one came at Andi. Each daughter of Zeus dodged the initial attack, Thalia with a roll and Andi with a super leap backwards.

From the brief moment in the air, Andi took the time to examine their attackers and boy was it a strange sight. They were a pair of bipedal lions. The one that attacked Thalia was obviously male. It had a mane, was broad shouldered and had massive muscles. The other one was a lioness. In contrast to its counterpart, it was lithe and built for speed. Both monsters snarled at them and held their claws at the ready.

"Alright, how'd you two get in here? Seriously, this place's security sucks!" Andi gripped. Not only did Thalia pull her away from her date, but now she had to deal with a pair of lion monsters.

This was turning out to be a terrible date night.

"A pair of leonte? Just what we need."

"You know 'em?"

Thalia was about to answer when the pair of leonte unexpectedly broke to the side, barely avoiding being skewered by the score of silver arrows clustered around where the two monsters had been standing just moments before.

Before either halfblood could even express their shock at this, the pre-teen form of Artemis landed in front of them, glaring at the lions. "Atalanta would be ashamed of you."

The male snarled at the goddess, baring his impressive set of canines and retorted. "You failed to protect her from Aphrodite's tricks when she needed you most. You've no _right_ to say her name."

The goddess of the hunt just fired another score of missiles from her crescent bow.

The pair of monsters once again evaded the barrage and turning tail, began bounding through the garden.

"Thalia, stay here. I have a pair of cubs to stuff." Artemis ordered while transforming into a gazelle and setting out in pursuit of the monsters.

Thalia glanced at Andi and took off, following her lady into battle.

Andi rolled her eyes, it seemed someone didn't know how to take orders.

"Those Leonte, so easy to manipulate." A familiar tittering voice said.

Recognizing it, the witch turned to see Aphrodite sitting in the gazebo and smiling broadly.

"So you sent them after us?"

"Darling, perish the thought! I sent them after Thalia." The goddess corrected. "She's lost whatever favor with me that she had by joining the Hunt, so she's free game to me. You see, I hate what the Hunters represent. They are a rejection of romance. And not just heterosexual love, all romantic love. Sure there are a few lesbian couples in the Hunters, but they're more tolerated rather than accepted."

She pointed to where Thalia had run off to. "Worse yet, that stuffy girl is boringly heterosexual. So there isn't even any chance of a little yuri in her future."

"What's yuri?"

"I could explain for hours! But sadly, you don't have that long." Aphrodite said with a disappointed pout. "The other gods dislike you enough as is and with two Olympians going out of their way to help you tonight, that will only get worst. So I can't stay long. Spinning it as me messing with Artemis can only go so far."

Andi rubbed her eyes, she figured it would look bad that two major goddesses had showed up to talk to her. "I'll just deal with it when it comes, I guess."

"And that's why I like you, you're a tough cookie." The lady of doves said with a proud little smile, as if she was somehow responsible in making Andi who she was. "So since you know what's up, pardon me for being blunt. I also sent those leonte to prove a point to you."

"What point?"

"That Thalia would rather run off and face a monster than spend time with you. Even when she doesn't have to. And she didn't just now. Artemis could handle those small fry easily, and she even gave the girl specific instructions to stay."

The demigod gave an accepting nod. "I sorta figured. I'm pretty much over her anyway."

"I know you are. In your head that is. This little demonstration was to help your heart get the memo too."

"Yeah, thanks Lady Aphrodite."

"It's tough being a teacher, but I do what I must. Now, I have to go. Tottles~!" The love goddess winked at her and dissipated into a flock of doves. "Be sure to do something I would do!"

Andi gave the doves a polite wave and turned back to the castle, trying to ignore that last part. She really hoped Will wasn't upset she just left him like that.

* * *

Andi returned to the Yule Ball to find that it was coming to its end. Most of the participants had headed back to their rooms and the Hall was pretty empty. The Weird Sisters had gone home and only the animated orchestra was left to provide music for the handful of remaining dancers, among which she spotted Annabeth and Percy. The pair were going slow, like the beginners they were, and unlike their first attempt of the night were doing surprisingly well.

She couldn't help the smile at seeing them getting that romantic dance she just knew they had been dying for even as she felt a little bummed that the night had went by so fast. Looking out over the balcony and into the garden - which was sporting a few craters now with glints of silver in them - she gave a disappointed sigh.

"You ok, Andi?" Will said with concern as he came up to her. "Everything go okay with Thalia?"

Andi turned around, leaning back on the balcony. She offered him a strained smile. "Yeah, I think we cleared the air. So it was nice, I guess."

"So it's getting late." Will said as he shot the dance floor a meaningful look.

Catching his hint, Andi perked up even as she felt a flutter in her chest. Showing off her etiquette lessons, she offered him a curtsey. "May I ask if the good sir would give me a final dance?"

Will smiled a little, as he offered her a bow in return. "I would be most delighted. Though, isn't it supposed to be the guy that asks for the dance?"

She grinned. "I'm a ballsy gal."

He smirked at her and took her hand. "You might want to get that checked out."

She swatted his arm as they walked to the dance floor.

As they began to dance a slow waltz, Andi felt her chest almost explode as she was overwhelmed with a surge of emotion. She didn't know how to explain the fluttering feelings. What she _did_ know was that, she _liked_ him. Really, really liked him.

So she did what she always did when her brain failed her, she relied on her gut.

Following her instincts she leaned in and kissed Will on the cheek.

The boy blushed lightly at this, even as he shot her a pleasantly surprised look and roguishly asked, "Does that mean you want to go out with me?"

Andi could only answer with a kiss to his other cheek, smiling prettily even as her own face flushed.

The son of Apollo looked ecstatic at _that_ reply and Andi could have sworn that the air around them suddenly felt charged with electricity.

Maybe it was the mood, maybe it was her feeling daring, Andi would never know but she threw caution to the wind and leaned in to give Will, her new boyfriend, a proper kiss on the lips. One the boy happily reciprocated. It was a chaste thing, neither party was willing to spoil the moment by pushing for more, but it was wonderful regardless.

It left the daughter of Zeus feeling incredible.

It was a moment in time that Andi knew she was going to cherish for a long time.

As they broke the kiss, Andi leaned into Will's chest, and they both slowly swayed to the music. To the new couple, it felt like it was just them on the dance floor, and they were okay with that.

* * *

A handful of hours later, the daughter of Zeus laid on her bed, still wearing her dress, and reflected on the night she just had.

On one hand, she and Thalia weren't sisters anymore, but at least they weren't going to end up killing each other. Still, Andi felt like she didn't really need Thalia.

Because she _did_ have a family.

 _That_ realization had been inspired by an offhand comment from Annabeth as she and the others headed home to Camp.

"This was fun. It's how I'd imagined going to Prom with a sister would be like." The daughter of Athena had told Andi as she hugged her goodbye.

Annabeth had practically been her sister since their quest for the Master Bolt. Sure, they had their differences, they argued but they were close. They often went out of their way to help the other.

At least Andi liked to think she tried to do so.

Annabeth's remark reminded her of that, comforting her of the hurts that 'losing' Thalia had left her with.

But, she didn't just have a sister. Did she? The comment got her thinking, and she realized that in truth she had a whole family.

Wendy was like an adorable little sister. Always eager to help, and constantly looking out for Andi. Sure, she didn't know her partner long but the daughter of Zeus already felt like she'd learned enough about the Aura to trust her with almost anything. Combine that with just how cute she was, Andi couldn't help but want to pamper her whenever she could.

She even had parents. Sorta.

Chiron was like her dad. No offense to Zeus, but Chiron was there for the day to day dad stuff. She knew the king of Olympus cared, he spoiled her after all, but he was just too distant for her to relate with in a fatherly way. Not when Chiron was _so_ much more available. Always there to help her whenever she needed him.

Then there was Ida, who was total mom material. Sharp tongued, not afraid to call her out whenever she did anything stupid, to punish her for misbehavior, but still be loving and caring in that firm but fair way. She taught her what she needed to get ahead in life, along with those etiquette lessons.

Yeah, those etiquette lessons.

She even had a dorky cousin in the form of Percy.

And then there was Will...

* * *

 **Done and done, and wow! It's a less than 10k chapter?! The world must be ending… Anyway! Thanks to the team of Nameless and Axios as always. Good work guys!**

 **Yeah, that's right. Andi got hooked up! To Will, deal with it Solgelo fans. Nico's not a depressed puppy that needs hugs. He's a hyperactive one now. Hugs and smiles people, hugs and smiles.**

 **Nameless: So we've finally had Will and Andi hook up, huh?** **It's been a long time coming, hasn't it? Well, we hope that you liked how we made it happen.**

 **And the Ball...JK dropped the ball, that's for sure. Do The Hippogriff...my ears bleed. And yes, those who have noticed, the Hufflepuffs are raging at Andi. With no Cedric to rein them in, she'll have to tolerate the hufflehate. Yeah, I said it. Hufflehate.**

 **Nameless: To be fair, 'Do The Hippogriff' might have been included by the filmmakers. We don't know, so... As for the rest of the Ball, I hope you guys enjoyed it. I know we left plenty of details out, but seriously I don't think all of you would have liked us to go through every little inconsequential detail.**

 **We also only cared about our characters doing their thing, not what the WW were doing.**

 **Nameless: Yup, since the WW isn't much of an interest to Andi by this point. It doesn't seem worthwhile for us to focus on them at all.**

 **Oh! There was one last point to discuss. This chapter represented a big chunk of character development for Andi, in the form of Andi's confrontation with Thalia and her realization at the end of the chapter. With these, she's finally learned to give up on her previously unrealistic expectations for family and learned to accept and be satisfied with what she does have.**

 **E4E: Exactly, Andi has always been pro family, but now realizing she's had what she's always wanted? That's a BIG BIG step for her. As for Andi and Thalia, they're not out to kill each other but they're not exactly going to watch the Notebook together either. She's got Annie for that. Next up is the Second Task, that's going to be fun, and wet.**

 **Nameless: Trust us, we have some very, very interesting ideas for that. Look forward to it.**

 **Now, we're going to be taking a little hiatus as** **we've eaten up most of our buffer. So we're taking a break until we wrap up our final few Andi chapters and this was a good spot to stop.**

 **But for now, smash that review button! No flames! And peace off my peeps. Til next time, bye!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter**

 **The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans**

 **Chapter Fourteen: I Dine With the Fishes**

 **Beta: ShadowofAxios**

* * *

"I'm going to scramble it, Bethy. I swear to Olympus." Andi glared daggers at the golden egg lying innocently -Too innocently!- in her lap.

Annabeth just rolled her eyes in exasperation at Andi's dramatics.

"It's made of metal Andi," said daughter of wisdom deadpanned via I.M.

"Then I'll melt it."

"Let's not. And even if we did," The blonde told her. "How would you figure out the clue then?"

"At this point, I don't care about the clue! I just want to get rid of this gods awful thing."

The only thing she'd managed to get out of the devilish egg was that annoying screech that stung her sensitive ears. The sooner she could toss it the better.

She was about ready to pull a Percy and toss it at a wall.

"Well, have you been researching magical languages like I recommended?" Annabeth asked. "I did say that the screeching was probably one of them."

"I looked up about fifty different languages. From fairies, to gnomes, and a whole a whole bunch of other stuff too. Sadly, no dice."

Okay, so Andi was exaggerating somewhat. She hadn't exactly gone through fifty different languages. She'd been smarter in her research than that and just cross-referenced languages that sounded like screeching to humans. She'd had a few hits, but mainly for things like ancient harpy languages or those of other avian races. Too bad her attempts to use translation spells for those languages proved that they weren't a match.

"Well, you'll just have to keep looking. I'm sure we're on the right track there."

"You're a great help there." Andi noted sarcastically.

Annabeth frowned apologetically. "I'm sorry about that. You know I am. But there aren't exactly many books on magical languages that I could get my hands on and I've already looked through those."

The daughter of Zeus rubbed her eyes. "Yeah, I know. I'm just frustrated that we're making so little progress."

"You're worrying too much." Annabeth reassured. "I mean you still have a while till the Task, right?"

"Yeah, like a week or so. Still, I just don't want to go into this thing half-cocked. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."

Annabeth nodded. As a child of Athena, she was someone who liked to be super battle ready, and so hated going into a situation without being fully prepared.

Andi's combat lessons had pounded that mentality into her as well. Especially with the type of opponents she had been facing lately.

"Well, maybe a suggestion?"

"I'm all ears?" Andi said as she leaned into the I.M. image eagerly.

"You might want to try looking for calls of magical beasts too. The wizards are super racists, aren't they?" Annabeth said with a disgusted face, her opinion on the topic clear.

"Yeah, pretty much." The child of Zeus wrinkled her nose.

"Right." The blonde continued. "So it's possible they classified this language as a call. Or maybe it's really not a language at all, and it's just that: a beast's call."

Andi turned to a set of bestiaries by Newt Scamander that she had lying around her bedroom. "Yeah, I've thought of that. No luck there either, unfortunately."

At hearing that, the daughter of Athena looked frustrated. "Then… I'm out of i-ideas."

Her friend looked very displeased at admitting this, like she had swallowed a lemon.

Hubris, thy name is Annabeth.

Andi sighed. "I guess, I'll just need to keep looking and hope I come up with something?"

"Looks like." The daughter of Athena said, sounding disappointed. "I really wish I could help more."

"Don't worry about it. You've helped a bunch already." Andi offered kindly. "Besides, who knows, maybe they'll tell us what it is after the task. If they do, I'll fill you in."

"You better." The blonde gave her a firm look at this, before she gave a yawn.

"Long day?"

"Yeah, Bobby filled Mathew's shoes with dirt. It wasn't fun to break up that little spat. You mind if we call it here?" Annabeth said with a wistful smile. "I'd love to catch up, but I'm exhausted."

"Not a problem. Have a good rest, Bethy."

Waving goodbye and receiving a lazy one in reply, Andi wiped her hand through the I.M. thus ending the call. She flopped back on her bed, groaning as she held the egg up in the air. "You are going to be the death of me, I swear."

Using her powers, she made the golden egg float by itself. She used her foot to spin it, glaring at it as she thought about the clue for the Second Task. What the heck was that screeching all about?

It was probably going to be something stupid again, Andi had little doubts about that.

"Alright, one more time you little bugger. Speak bloody English this time. Please." Andi opened the latches.

"Andi, it's time for di-" Wendy said as she opened the door to the room and poked her head in. She winced as the terrible noise reached her ears.

"One sec!" Andi shouted back, louder than the egg itself and latched it up once more. Rubbing her ear, she said. "Sorry, was trying to figure this stupid, asinine, piece of junk out!"

The Aura just shook her head, as if clearing the ringing from her ears. Once she seemed to regain her cool, she turned to Andi with an adorably confused look. "Why are you listening to Mermish above water!?"

"...What?" Andi asked slowly as she mechanically turned her head to her little Aura friend. "Say that again?"

"Mermish. Why are you listening to it above water. It only comes out as incoherent screams if it's not in water."

Andi promptly tossed the egg at the wall.

"Son of a-!" The daughter of Zeus jumped off the bed and glared daggers at the egg once more. "Of course, it has to be about water. No doubt swimming in it too! And it involves fish too. I know Uncle Poseidon doesn't totally hate me, but his fishy minions do."

Could this task get any dumber?

"Wait a minute." Andi stilled suddenly as she just realized something. "Wendy, did you know the egg's clue was in Mermish all along?"

The little wind nymph just blinked in even more confusion. "That was the egg's clue? This is the first time I've heard it."

The daughter of Zeus palmed her face as she realized that her partner was right. It hadn't even occurred to her to ask Wendy for help with the egg. She'd only approached Annabeth, who despite her best efforts hadn't helped out much, and Ida, who had just smiled and told her that she saw solving the clue as something Andi had to figure out on her own. Her nanny had even made it into one of her graded assignments.

"I forgot that as a spirit you're a darn translator for naturey stuff. Okay, so what does it say?"

Wendy shrugged. "As I said, outside of water it's incoherent gibberish. You need to place it underwater and listen."

Andi nodded with a vaguely embarrassed blush. Wendy had mentioned that first bit.

"Uh, yeah, sure." The demigod said sheepishly as she scooped up the egg and jogged to the bathroom, Wendy right at her heels.

Turning on the faucet, Andi waited for the tub to fill impatiently.

As the minutes ticked by, her impatience got the better of her and she pointed at the tub and invoked her magic. "Aguamenti."

A small trickle of water shot from her finger and started to help fill the tub.

"Ugh, why is it producing so little water?"

Andi's spell was barely making a difference.

"What do you mean?" Wendy asked in surprise. "That you, a daughter of Zeus, can do _any_ magic with water is already a big deal."

"Huh? What do you mean? The last time I used this spell it produced tons more than _this_." Andi said gesturing in annoyance to the squirt gun level trickle her spell was conjuring.

"Oh! You mean during the fight with Chimera?"

"You know about that?"

"I did my research on you. Ida insisted." Wendy said with a shudder. "Something about how studying your previous fights would help me understand your fighting style and learn to fight alongside you better."

"What, do gods have a fantasy demigod league or something?"

"You're ranked in the top 100." Wendy said with pride. "And that's out of all the demigods that have ever lived."

Andi opened her mouth to respond, but she failed to say anything. Shocked that her jest was an actual thing.

"Okay." The demigod drawled, not wanting to know more. It was getting a little too weird, even for her. "So you were saying there's something different with me using the spell now and back when I used it in the fight with Chimera?"

"Yup." The Aura nodded, even as she popped the "p". "You're not helping Lord Poseidon's son in a life or death battle right now, so he's not blessing you and boosting your affinity with water right now."

"That's fair." Andi conceded with a bob of her head. "I'm guessing what affinity I _do_ have comes from dad's power over rain, clouds, and storms?"

Zeus did powerwash the world once after all.

"Exactly."

The daughter of Zeus blinked in annoyance.

She thought that she and Poseidon were on better terms now.

Guess it wasn't by much.

"I think the tub's done."

Looking down, and noting that her partner was right, Andi proceeded to toss the egg in and turn off the tap. Giving Wendy a quick glance, Andi took a breath and ducked her head in. She reached for the egg and opened it once more.

Not having her ears ringing from screeching was the first thing she noted.

Next was the pretty voice now coming from the egg as it sang a creepy little song.

" _Come seek us where our voices sound,_

 _We cannot sing above the ground,_

 _And while you're searching ponder this;_

 _We've taken what you'll sorely miss,_

 _An hour long you'll have to look,_

 _And to recover what we took,_

 _But past an hour, the prospect's black,_

 _Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."_

The voice trailed off into a beautiful wordless melody after that before it repeated the song once more. Andi listened to it one more time, wanting to be sure that she memorised the thing properly, and then closed the egg up.

Popping her head from the tub, the daughter of Zeus looked at Wendy. "So am I missing anything from the room?"

"Err… No?"

"Oh right! You didn't hear the song." Andi looked sheepish. "It said they took something I'll really miss. I'll get an hour to find it and take it back."

"Do you know where it is?" Wendy pondered.

The child of the Olympian King scrunched her nose. "I've got a pretty good idea."

She glanced out the window, where the Black Lake sat, looking super sinister as usual. The daughter of Zeus had held the lake in contempt ever since she nearly drowned in it thanks to a bunch of overzealous Grindylow.

"It doesn't have to be a thing, right? What if it's a person?"

Wendy had a point.

"Who? I mean, I seriously doubt the wizards would manage to nab you or Ida. And Will, Bethy and the others are all in the States. Don't think they'd go intercontinental just to grab someone for this silly Tournament. On the other hand, maybe I should I.M. him. Them. Yeah, just in case."

"So you can make kissy faces at each other again?" Wendy asked innocently.

"We do not!"

"Uh-huh. You totally do!"

The two girls would have likely continued bickering for a while, but they were interrupted by Ida walking into the room. "Wendy, Andi? What's taking you girls so long? We'll be late for dinner if we don't hurry. By the way, Wendy has a point!"

"How do you even know what we were talking about?" Andi asked defensively. "The room is soundproofed."

"I can guess." Ida said with a knowing smirk. "You were denying that you make kissing faces at your boyfriend when you I.M. him."

"And now they're ganging up on me, lamesauce." Andi pouted.

Hedwig hooted as she flew onto Ida's shoulder.

"And there's the third! There a fourth hidden in the walls?"

The two nymphs and one snowy owl all burst into laughter.

Andi grabbed the egg from the now draining tub and promptly tossed it right at Ida's head.

The nymph caught it effortlessly and raised a brow.

"Stuff it!"

* * *

It was a dreary and chilly February morning at Hogwarts, even more so as Andi stood by the cold lake in an insulated wetsuit. Despite her best efforts though, including a warming charm, the cold still seemed to somehow seep into her very bones. All in all, it was a terrible day and all Andi wanted to do was go back to bed and wait out the bad weather.

Unfortunately, she didn't have the luxury as it was time for the Second Task.

On one bank the seats that had encircled the dragons' enclosure in November were now ranged. They were packed to the bursting point by a crowd whose excited babble echoed strangely across the water. Next to her were the judges sitting around a gold-draped table at the water's edge with the remaining Champions shifting impatiently next to them.

The demigod swore the water was glaring at her, she knew she had some of her dad's paranoia, but she couldn't help but think that this time it was justified. The lake had tried to claim her once, Andi wasn't going to enjoy giving it another chance to do so.

She didn't have much of a choice. Not when Ron had disappeared overnight, and was almost certainly serving as her hostage. She'd been keeping an eye on all her friends for days now, to try to figure out who the judges would take as the person that she'd "sorely miss".

In all honesty, she was a little baffled by their choice. Sure, Ron was a mate and all, but it didn't make much sense to have him be Andi's hostage. They haven't been the best of chums in a while.

They were still close of course, but they hadn't hung out as much as they used to lately. Not with her constantly studying, being away fighting the Titans, and doing demigod things. Her schedule was pretty booked. Not to mention how he was drifting away from her as he found new friends. Many of whom hated her, like his new girlfriend Lisa Turpin.

The less sad about Lisa the better.

The judges must have been grasping at straws or something.

Shaking the thoughts away, she focused on the problem at hand. Distant or not, Ron was still her friend and she wasn't about to abandon him under the lake to whatever fate awaited him. She was sure that the wizards thought they had the situation under control, but that didn't inspire much confidence in her. Not when the lake was giving her such bad vibes.

The Champions were all lined up, spread out a few feet from one another and eying the others Andi couldn't help but roll her eyes. Especially, at the overt sex appeal that Fleur's swimsuit oozed.

Begging for attention much?

Sure, it was just a simple white one piece but considering the amount of cleavage it showed and the cold weather, it was wholly inappropriate. Not that the lone male Champion was any better, dressed as he was in his swim shorts.

Was this a competition or a modelling ad?

 _Ugh, stupid ADHD, I'm getting distracted again. What's taking them so long? Let's get on with it._

As if hearing her thoughts, and maybe they did, the Fates obliged.

Bagman, who was apparently playing announcer again, suddenly looked up from a pocket watch, pointed his wand at his throat and said, "Sonorus!" and his voice boomed out across the dark water toward the stands.

Thankfully, he seemed to have decided to skip any flowery speeches this time around and instead chose to get straight to the point. She wanted to get this over with.

"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One...two...three!"

As his countdown concluded, the starting whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air and the stands erupted with cheers and applause.

Not that Andi paid it any mind. The moment that the whistle was given, she'd leapt into the air with a power assisted leap and jumped into the lake. In the same instant, while she was still in midair, Wendy who had been nearby the whole time in her wind form, proceeded to encase her in their Storm Mail.

To the crowd, it looked like nothing more than Andi's form suddenly being cocooned by a swirling red tempest.

Armored up, they dived in, Andi inhaling the air Wendy provided as they glided under the water. It was a neat little trick that they had learned to help the daughter of Zeus breathe and move more freely underwater. It was apparently something that had been done before and Ida suggested they could try out. It had taken quite a bit of practice in the swimming pool provided by the Room of Requirement for them to get the whole thing down but in the end it was worth it.

 _Under the sea, under the sea~!_

 _Wendy, stop singing that. Please?_

 _But it's catchy~!_ Wendy whined.

 _Stop or no more Disney for you._ Andi chided her as she glanced around, pushing some kelp out of her way as they made it into the deeper parts of the Lake.

Wendy silenced her singing and softly said. _But it's eerie down here. I wanted to fill the noise. Besides, you don't like it much down here either. Isn't that why we never came down here to practice before now?_

 _That and I didn't want to try my luck with the Lake until I absolutely had to. Getting attacked once was more than enough. But, seriously, now's not the time for music. We've gotta pay attention, who knows what's going to-oh, seriously?_ Andi groaned as a massive school of fish surged out of the depths and surrounded her. _Shoo, shoo!_

The fish circled around her and obstructed her view. Andi batted her hands at them, knocking a few away, but they seemed determined to continue encircling her. Even as she tried to swim away, they followed her relentlessly, always keeping her in the centre of a swarming mass of fins and scales.

If that was not weird enough, the school was an odd mix of fish. There was everything from the typical fish of all sizes to flying sea horses to Plimpies, small round magical fish with two legs ending in webbed feet. Andi wasn't a fish expert, not like Percy, but she was pretty sure that fish from so many different species didn't normally all school together like this.

 _If I didn't want to get on Uncle Poseidon's bad side, I'd be making sushi out of you all right now._

She tried to continue forward, except there was a problem. Andi didn't know which way she was going now. Not with the large fish screen obstructing her vision.

 _Uh, Andi, the fish are behaving very oddly._ Wendy noted with some worry.

 _You think? Oh shite!_ Andi cursed, as suddenly the fish started to dive at her and ramming into her body at full speed like tiny living torpedoes. _They're attacking me!_

Reacting quickly, Andi pulled as many air bubbles around her as she could and released a small air blast. The shockwave scattered the fish around her.

The demigod looked around and saw the massive school was even now quickly shaking off its disorientation and regrouping. Knowing that she couldn't afford to get caught by it again, she swam for the shallow end of the lake that was fortunately not too far away.

 _Pour on the speed, Wendy!_

They shot through the kelp forest that ringed the lake shore even as the reformed school began to pursue them. But between their speed and the cover provided by the seaweed, they seemed to lose them.

They were just slowing down to catch a breather and sighing in relief when they were ambushed _again_.

From out of nowhere, Grindylows sprang forth from hiding places in the kelp forest all around them. Their green teeth stretched in vicious grins as those elongated fingers of theirs reached out towards her. The very sight of them made Andi's heart race in terror as she recalled her near drowning the last time she ran into the foul things.

Like bloody hell they were getting a hold of her again!

This time, she came prepared with Skyline in tow. Bringing her sword forth, she swung at them in fury.

 _Die! Die! Die!_

She launched conjured blades of air that cut through the water and chopped dozens of them to pieces at a time.

But just like last time, there were too many of them. That combined with some unusual cunning by the blighters had them sacrificing themselves by deliberately getting in the way of Skyline and her wind blades, soaking up the damage while their fellows swarmed her. Soon dozens of them were latched onto her body with their strong fingers and tentacles. Slowly but surely they dogpiled her and began pulling with all their strength.

 _Let me go!_ Andi shouted in her mind as she felt like her limbs being twisted off. She tried to swing Skyline around to hack at them, but those on her arms simply pulled in the opposite direction and kept her sword arm still.

If Andi had been on her own, that might have been the end of her.

But she wasn't.

While the daughter of Zeus was screaming in pain as the Grindylows pulled her apart, Wendy saved the day. Acting quickly, the Aura expanded the Storm Mail into a large bubble of air that pushed all the little water demons back.

Andi panted as she rested at the bottom of the bubble. Looking up, she said. "Thanks Wendy."

 _I can't do this forever!_ The little Aura told her in a strained tone.

"Well don't." Andi said, glancing at the _sheer_ number of the things. "We're bolting, we don't have time to deal with them anyway. Get back to armor form and add on more rotation, that should keep them off for now."

Wendy did just that, the air armor now rotating so rapidly that it sent bubbles escaping in every direction. It was spinning so fast, that the few Grindylows who managed to close with her couldn't latch on. They didn't rest on their laurels though and blasted off, flying right through the weak wall the Grindylows were trying to make.

Sadly though, despite their speedy getaway, the bastards were strong swimmers and were quickly nipping at her heels.

 _Come on Wendy, we need to outpace them._

 _I'm a flyer, not a swimmer!_

In the confusion of their escape, the duo had gotten turned around and instead of heading to the shallows like they originally intended, they shot back out into the open water.

Something that the school of fish from earlier seized upon as they shot towards them.

 _Oh bugger all! Dive, Wendy! Dive!_

 _What?!_

 _They can't go that deep, do it!_ Andi ordered.

 _I hope you know what you're doing._

Andi really didn't. She was mostly flying by the seat of her pants at the moment, but anything was better than staying here to become fish food.

 _I heard that!_

 _Sorry._

The Aura nevertheless compiled and the duo shot into the lake's dark depths, quickly leaving a swarm of aquatic menaces behind them in their wake.

 _Okay, I think we're safe for a minute._

 _Give it five seconds before we're attacked again._ Wendy opined in resignation.

Andi quirked her brow, _Well, aren't you little Miss Pessimist today._

 _We were assaulted by_ fish _! I can be pessi-_

Wendy never finished her sentence, instead opting to jinx to the side as a gigantic tentacle swung at them from out of the deep.

 _Wha- Bob!?_

Indeed, rising out of the lake bottom was the massive form of Bob the giant squid. The usually playful creature was swinging its tentacles aggressively at the pair as they jinxed about in the water, desperately evading his attempts to ensnare them.

"Is everything in the Lake out to get me?" Andi shouted in frustration as she narrowly avoided a massive tentacle swing as she and Wendy sped away from the jet propelled giant cephalopod.

"Bob! I used to tickle your tentacles! Why the betrayal?!"

 _He says he's sorry._ Wendy translated. _But he has to listen to Nessie. He owes her too much._

"The Loch Ness monster? What's she got to do with this?" Andi asked as she pulled up sharply, dodging a superfast stream of water by a hair's breadth.

 _Different Nessie, this is the Lake's Naiad. Not the kelpie in Loch Ness. I met her at the Yule party in the Forest. She doesn't like you. At all._

 _Well she can join the list of people who hate me. Still, that explains everything. Thanks for the warning, Wendy!_

 _Dislike does not equal murder!_ Wendy weakly argued as they ducked around the swing of a tentacle.

 _Have you met our Pantheon?!_

 _Point!_

While the partners argued, Bob seemed to have changed tactics as he began filling the surrounding water with ink. Knowing that fighting the squid while blinded by the ink was a bad idea, Andi shot them towards the surface. Bob seemed to expect this and fired a barrage of water jets in a bid to cut her off. Andi and Wendy proved a lot more agile than he expected though and with some fancy maneuvering and some lightning fast reaction times, they blitzed pass his attempt to box them in.

 _Out of the water! We need a break._ Andi thought breathlessly, the frantic pace so far forcing her to breathe hard. _By that patch of flotsam. It'll hide us from the things in the lake._

 _Right._

Obligingly, the Aura shot them out of the water, right in the middle of a patch of floating logs that seemed to have floated down into the lake from one of the many tributaries that ran into it from the Forest.

"Son of a bitch, I hate lakes. Now and forever." Andi sighed as she scanned the murky waters. She had no idea where the mermaid village was. _I guess I'll have to use the Point Me-_

 _Andi!_

Wendy's warning was a little too late though and even as Andi turned her attention back to her immediate surroundings, she found herself being attacked by dugbogs - swamp dwelling magical creatures that looked like bits of dead wood when stationary - that had disguised themselves as some of the floating logs. The magical creatures started clawing at her with their finned paws and sharp teeth, while trying to use their weight to drag Andi back into the water.

The daughter of the skies was having none of it.

 _That's it! I'm officially fed up!_

Letting her frustration loose in a wordless scream, Andi detonated an air bomb with herself as ground zero. Protected as she was by her Storm Mail and her natural immunity to the effects of the winds, she was unscathed. Her surroundings however weren't so lucky. The dugbogs were reduced to meaty chunks and their woody camouflage into splinters.

This seemed to elicit a cheer from the stands, but Andi ignored it.

Instead as she regained her breath, the demigod assessed her options.

The mermaid village was nowhere to be seen, Ron was still missing, … Oh! And everything in the lake was trying to kill her.

Andi was highly tempted to just opt out of this round. Sadly, with how much the naiad of the Lake seemed to loathe her, she doubted Ron was going to be let go anytime soon. Even if the timer ran out.

 _The things I have to do as a hero._

 _It's not safe in the water._ Wendy noted, nervously.

 _Thanks for stating the obvious there._ Andi snapped, her frustration getting the better of her. _Sorry. This is becoming a pain._

 _No worries._ Wendy replied soothingly. _I understand. Anyway, what I was trying to say is that we should just fly to the water over the village and_ then _dive back in._

Andi blinked her eyes in surprise at that. _That's actually a good idea. Let's do it. Just give me a minute to figure out where the village is._

She took out her wand and held it atop her palm. "Point me." She declared and the wand began to pivot south west.

 _Aha! Gotcha now._ Andi grinned wickedly.

 _Why didn't you use the spell from the start?_ Wendy asked her.

"I was going to." Andi replied. "Didn't get the chance, not with the constant attacks."

 _You just forgot, didn't you?_

 _I didn't, now hush you._

The duo floated over the lake until they were directly on top of the village. Holstering her wand, Andi gripped Skyline tightly as she glared down at the waters. "Ready? We're blitzing the village with a Sonic Move, got it?"

 _Roger!_

"Hang on, Ron." Andi said as she blasted right into the lake with a chant of "Sonic Move", causing quite a large splash in the process as she rode the lightning down.

 _I think we didn't think it through._ Andi thought to herself as her dive threw up a mass of bubbles and had her shooting through the water so fast that she couldn't make out anything around her.

As she levelled out in the water and the bubbles from her dive cleared, Andi looked around to regain her bearings. The first thing she noticed were the charred bodies of dozens of fish falling to the bottom around her, victims of either being hit dead on by her in Sonic Move or cooked alive by the heat created by her streaking through the water as lightning.

 _Whoops._

 _You are a walking environmental disaster._ Wendy said with a groan.

 _Don't tell Grover._ The demigod pleaded as she looked around quickly. _Now where's that ginger?_

Andi redirected her attention to her surroundings and was greeted with a sight that made her gulp nervously. She was face to face with an army of merpeople armed with tridents and nets; a quartet of Kelpie, shapeshifting water spirits that currently looked like hippocampi; Bob; a large school of fish; and a Naiad that literally glowed with malicious intent.

All of them did, as they eyed her murderously. Even Bob.

"Okay, I'll be frank. I just want the ginger. Hand him over and I will leave, forever afterwards. I swear." She offered to the assembled armies of the lake.

The lake nymph's only reply was to drag Ron to her side from where he was floating in the water at the back of the village and placing a deadly looking dagger against a sleeping Ron's throat.

"And it seems negotiations have failed."

 _Like they had a chance to begin with!_

As if echoing Wendy's sentiment, the lake's denizens charged.

"And now we're doing this!" Andi complained as she defended herself and tried to weave through the ranks to get to Ron, but the enemy were just too well coordinated.

The merfolk used their tridents like javelins, forcing Andi back. Every time she tried to aim a ranged attack, the massive school of fish acted as a massive screen that blocked her vision and threw off her aim. When she tried an area of effect attack, the kelpie just used their powers over the water to negate it by stilling the waters or hardening it into walls that tanked whatever she threw at them. While all this was happening, she still had to contend with Bob's jets of water and his massive tentacles.

Despite the insane melee the fight had become, Andi still managed to spot Krum and Fleur as they made use of the distraction to dart through the deserted merfolk village, grab their hostages and swim away. All while shooting fearful looks at the epic fight.

"Oh sure, run and let the demigod do all the fighting. Typical mortals." Andi cursed under her breath as she once again ducked under a barrage of javelins from the merfolk.

 _At least someone is making progress. But I think they might have the right idea._

 _What do you mean?_

 _Just wait and see._ Andi assured with a mirthless smile as she shot them back out of the water. _Ron was over that way, so I'll need to aim over here._

 _Aim? Aim what?_

Andi's answer was to fire a barrage of airbombs into the water below, sending up massive sprays of water now tinged red with blood and full of the remains of her enemies.

 _Ever hear of a depth charge?_ Andi smirked menacingly as she eyed her handiwork.

 _...No. No I have not._ Wendy said in a low, horrified whisper.

 _Well you just saw a whole bunch of them._

 _You are fiendishly good at clearing crowds._ Wendy noted with a tinge of fear. _I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing._

"I just hope I didn't miscalculate and accidentally hit Ron."

That would seriously suck. She didn't want to kill him, but she really had little chance of getting him out of there without thinning the fishy herd.

"Right, nothing for it but to go check I gues-"

Before Andi could even finish her sentence, the blood red surface of the lake churned into a maelstrom and a roar of unbridled rage echoed through the air seemingly coming from the waters itself.

Slowly, ominously, from the maelstrom emerged a single _massive_ sea serpent. It was wide as a jet liner, at least, and who knew how long. Flanking it were the four kelpie from earlier, now supersized and with their lower bodies looking serpentine.

In the distance, a collective gasp escaped from the stands.

"Oh, wow, you're- you're a big one." The daughter of Zeus eyed the massive clear pearl of water that hung on the serpent's neck, within which a still unconscious Ron floated limply. "Son of a-!"

Seriously! Was it hard to ask for something to go smoothly? Just once?!

"You will pay!" The serpent exclaimed, hissing at her. "First, you get me in trouble with Lord Poseidon and now you massacre my subjects?"

" _You_ did this, I was only defending myself." Andi snapped, glaring frighteningly at the serpent with glowing blue eyes. "Get the Hades over yourself you psycho nymph."

 _Andi, maybe we shouldn't make the psycho even more angry?_ Wendy warned.

"No no no, she wants to rumble? I have aggression to dish out if she wants it!"

"Kill her!" The enraged naiad ordered her kelpie henchmen as she too took action. She breathed out a dozen massive lances of bloody water.

Andi swerved through the air to avoid them, but they impossibly seemed to track her. They twisted and turned in the air to do so, relentlessly hunting Andi down. In fact, from the way they moved Andi almost thought they might have minds of their own.

 _It's because they do._ Wendy noted in a fearful whisper. _They're animated by the spirits of those you've just killed and they want revenge. They won't_ ever _stop chasing you Andi._

 _The utter amount of bullshit that is_ this _lake! I redub thee Lake Bullshit!_ Andi fumed inwardly as her dodging was made all the more difficult by the kelpies as they joined the fight. The water spirits kept conjuring waves of water to cut her off whenever she got too close to the Lake and when she tried to shoot up to the safety of the clouds, they fired jets of water to intercept her.

"You lot like to shoot at me?" Andi screamed at the kelpie. "Well eat this!"

With that she used her powers to conjure up a cyclone and caught the lances that were still hunting her in its winds before using it to shoot them back at the water spirits. The shapeshifters were transformed into living pincushions but seemed largely unaffected. Instead, their only reaction, if their furious neighing was anything to go by, was to get even more pissed off.

 _They are all spirits now, Andi! You can't defeat them with physical attacks._

"You'll have to do better than that, little girl!" The sea serpent shaped naiad taunted even as she continued to fill the air with more of those accursed blood lances.

 _Wendy, tell me that a little earlier next time!_ Andi screamed in exasperation in her mind as she narrowly avoided being skewered by one of the lances.

 _Sorry!_ Wendy apologized even as she frantically pulled them out of the way of a jet of water that the kelpie shot at them. _I thought it was obvious._

 _Spirits? Hmm… I guess it has to be_ that _._

Diving between the bloody lances and twisting upward to get some altitude, Andi pointed her open palm towards the raging spirits.

" **επικαλούνται: καθαρό αέρα: καθαρισμός** (Invoke: Pure Air: Purge)!"

Immediately, white tinged gusts of wind surged out of the aether to entangle the forms of the spirits. The sea serpent, the kelpies, the bloody lances, all of them were wrapped up in bindings of pure white. They struggled furiously against the restraints, but Andi held on, pouring more and more magic into them to sustain them even as the spell reached its crescendo and the bindings glowed a blinding light.

As the spots from her eyes cleared, Andi was happy to see that her foes were gone and Ron was floating still unconscious on the still crimson tinted surface of the lake.

The stands erupted into cheers at this point, but the daughter of Zeus didn't give a damn. She was just glad the stupid Task was over.

"Wendy, grab Ron and take us to the platform." Andi ordered before the strain of the long running battle finally took its toll and she slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

 **Done and done!**

 **Nameless: So Andi is ganged up on by the people in her lives, huh? Well, someone has to keep her in line. XD It's actually just a little bit of good fun to show that Andi has fun with Ida, Wendy and the rest of her little 'family'.**

 **Tis most humorous! I love doing little slice of life bits, so it's always good for me.**

 **So, Black Lake turned into the lake of rage, huh guys? Good thing there ain't no Gyrarados' around for her to fight, oh wait! She kinda did. She also might have gone overboard. Who knows!**

 **Nameless: Wow! The lake scene was an incredibly long run on scene, wasn't it? I hope it was good. We put in a lot effort into making it exciting and original. Including as many magical aquatic creatures that might be native to a Scottish lake as possible. I think some people would be shocked by the way Andi went all mass murderer at the end there. I know I was.**

 **Nameless, please, it was fishy genocide. Not mass murder. Or would it be overkill via Zeus lineage? I'm sure Big Z would be proud. So, yeah, kind of a grey blot of morals here.**

 **Nameless: The merfolk, the kelpie and the naiad herself were all fully sentient beings, so yeah… It** _ **was**_ **mass murder. It might have been in self-defense but it still was seriously overkill.** **Basically, the whole situation is a huge grey area, like E4E said** **. I mean, sure, the naiad started it, but Andi went way, way overboard in how she ended it.**

 **Well, Andi drew a bad lot with it being water themed and we all know how well that went last time. Hopefully the next task won't be need tartar sauce.**

 **So tell us what you thought of the chapter, smash that review button! No flames and peace off my peeps! Bye!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter**

 **The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans**

 **Chapter Fifteen: I Bribe the Bank**

 **Beta: ShadowofAxios**

* * *

Once more, the daughter of Zeus found herself in dreamland.

With everything around her looking strangely fuzzy and blanketed in a dense mist, it wasn't hard to tell.

Wherever the dream was taking place, the air tasted musky in a way that reminded her of the Underworld somehow.

In the distance, she spotted a pair of glowing red eyes, pacing in circles around what looked like a tombstone.

"As much as I am loathe to admit it," A strangely androgynous voice echoed in the darkness. "There is no doubt, the girl is powerful. If my plan is to succeed I'll need to find a way to _neutralize_ that power. Hmm… Ah! That will do nicely."

The being burst into triumphant -And pretty creepy- cackling that sent Andi's skin crawling. So much so that she was thankful that it was cut off as her electric blue eyes snapped open.

Looking around, the demigod noted she was once more in the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts.

"Bugger me."

* * *

A few days after Andi finally got out of the infirmary, at the large circular landing at the very top of the Astronomy tower, where the school's students set up their telescopes to study the stars late at night, a small gathering was taking place. Seated around a table provided by the castle's elves were Andi and her companions Wendy and Ida as they enjoyed some tea and biscuits. This despite the frankly freezing winds that buffeted the tower.

Just thinking about those winds sent a shiver down Andi's spine, despite being bundled up. "It's amazing that we can have tea up here without worrying about the cold."

"Yup! We Aurae and mountain nymphs are really cool." Wendy said with obvious pride. "Being able to tolerate extreme temperatures is great!"

 _And so are warming charms._ Andi added privately. _I'm glad that I found those spells while studying about elemental magic._

"Wendy, you're rambling again." Ida chided lightly.

"Aw, don't be so hard on her. I think her rambling is cute." Andi countered as she leaned over to ruffle her red tresses.

"You're spoiling her." The ancient mountain nymph observed as she sipped her tea and looked out at the lake far below.

 _I'm just glad I've got a chance to. I almost thought Madam Pomfrey wasn't going to let me out of her sight ever again._ Andi thought to herself with a smile.

"It's such a shame that you were scored so poorly in the Second Task." Ida commented, spoiling Andi's mood as she rolled her eyes.

It was true that the demigod had come in with the lowest score in the Task. She could understand where the judges were coming from though, she had come back last and unconscious to boot after all. Add in all the death she'd caused in the lake and it was quite understandable why the wizards had judged her so poorly. Poorly enough, in fact, that she was now ranked in last place.

Then again, she cared very little. It wasn't like she was that interested in winning this Tournament in the first place.

"Well, Andi did basically commit _mass murder_ on the lake's inhabitants." Wendy commented while shooting the daughter of Zeus a unhappy look.

Andi bit her lip and looked away. Wendy was right, and the demigod knew it.

"She is her Father's daughter." Ida commented dryly as she glanced at the cloudy sky.

"I know." Wendy said with a sigh. "Just saying. The wizards are right to say that."

"I guess I went a little overboard." Andi offered weakly.

"I think going a 'little overboard' is an understatement."

Andi just ducked her head at Ida's stern tone.

The daughter of Zeus knew that. The fact Dumbledore and Ron thought the same and had become uncomfortable around here after the Task was proof enough, for her, that she'd screwed up. Even Luna, in her letter to her after the incident, chastised her even as she told her that she understood why Andi had reacted the way she did.

"Be thankful I'm not punishing you." Ida told her with her crystal-like eyes narrowed. Shifting to stare back at her teacup, she continued. "And that's only because I feel there was an outside force that pushed the Naiad to be _that_ hostile."

 _Luna had hinted at that too._ Andi thought to herself as she shifted uneasily in her seat.

"Not Uncle Poseidon, right? Because I was sure we were cool now." Andi nervously asked. Ever since she murderlated the lake, she had been sending offerings to Poseidon alongside her daily breakfast offerings to her dad just in case he took offense at what she'd done.

"I would think not. But, I am nevertheless increasing your etiquette lessons." Ida informed her. "I will also add lessons about the likes and dislikes of various gods. I don't know if an offended god is the cause of what happened, but even if it isn't, you learning about this will at least help you as you mend fences."

The daughter of Zeus just nodded in confirmation, it was all she could do at this point.

Disheartened, the young demigoddess glanced at the lake in the distance.

It was now a bloody red in color. After the Task, the Black Lake had become the _Bloody_ Lake. No matter how many times the staff tried to revert it, the waters were now a permanent blood red. Even more disturbing, almost overnight, the population of deadly creatures in the lake had seemingly doubled and was still growing like it was the hottest new pub for killer creatures on the block.

Heck, you couldn't even go over the lake without the most deadly thing in the lake attacking you. A lance of crimson water would shoot out and skewer _anything_ that did so before dragging the hapless victim down into the crimson depths to an unknown but probably grisly fate. The wizards weren't sure what it was, but were tentatively classifying it as some kind of new magical creature with a XXXXX threat rating.

Worse, the newly super deadly lake very obviously had a raging murder boner for her. Andi could practically feel its sheer hatred for her, even atop the tallest turret of Hogwarts. She wasn't just imagining it either, when she'd first sensed it, she'd asked Wendy about it and the nymph had confirmed it. So yeah, she now had a body of water that really, really wanted her dead.

Just then Hedwig fluttered over to them and landed on Andi's head, a letter in her beak.

"Hey, thanks girl." Andi smiled up at her and put her teacup down to take the letter. Relieved of her burden, the owl hopped onto the table and started to dip her head into Andi's cup.

Hedwig had very refined tastes. She'd settle for nothing less than the finest Earl Grey for her tea.

"Who's it from?" Wendy cocked her head to the side.

"Lord Poseidon I imagine." Ida noted. "I did talk to him about the matter and he promised to get in touch."

Point to the mountain nymph, she was right. The Seal on the latter was blue with a trident stamped on it, her sea uncle's symbol of power.

"Hopefully, he has good news then." Andi said as she broke the seal and pulled the letter out to read. Just like last time, it was written in glowing script in truly divine penmanship.

The first part was all about her Uncle Poseidon thanking her for allowing him to use the same loophole as last time to get in touch with Percy. After all, it was only right that he get in touch with his son, her friend, to get some information on the incident. Especially since she'd been in touch with him to talk about it already.

Andi smiled at that, glad to have inadvertently been a help.

The rest of the letter was a lot more grim though, and quickly wiped the smile off her face. Apparently, Uncle Poseidon _was_ angry. In fact, if his rant was anything to go by, the sea god's legendary temper was on at full blast, but thankfully not aimed at her. Instead, he was reserving his fury, his own words, at whoever set the tragedy that was the Second Task into motion.

Andi almost felt sorry for whoever her Uncle's investigations fingered as the perpetrator.

Folding the letter and stuffing it back into the envelope, Andi stood up. "Hey, I'm going to I.M. Percy, see how things are going for him. Meet up for our lesson in an hour. Okay, Ida?"

Ida gave a nod and the daughter of Zeus flashed her a pretty smile.

"Thanks! Hedwig, easy on the scones, you're getting fat!"

Hedwig hooted heatedly at her.

* * *

In the two days since receiving the letter, Andi had learned from talking to Percy that her Uncle's investigations had gotten nowhere. This despite considerable efforts on his part, which made his already great anger grow, as Percy described it, ever colder. The only thing that they'd managed to uncover was the possibility, and no more than that, that the Titans might have been involved.

This was something of an epiphany for Andi as she realized that a good part of her trouble with the gods likely came from her enemies adding fuel to the fire. She had rarely considered what her enemies might try and do to her outside the safety of Camp, but confronted with potential evidence she couldn't help but be more wary than ever.

Titans, Gods, and nymphs, oh my.

Well, all this meant that she just needed to be more careful from now on and give those jerks less of a chance to give her grief.

Wearily rubbing her eyes, the daughter of Zeus was greeted by a shout.

"Andi!" Wendy informed as she poked her head in from their suite's common room. "Your guests are here."

"Coming." Andi declared as she stepped out of her room to meet Ron and his sister Ginny.

In a bid to mend some of her strained relationships with her Wizarding friends, Andi had invited Ron to come visit and talk things out. His sister who had been there when she'd issued the invitation had jumped at the chance to join them. It was kind of annoying, especially when Luna who Andi _had_ invited, was forced to decline thanks to her visions continuing to warn her to keep a distance. Those were getting somewhat annoying. However, for Ron's sake, the demigoddess brushed off the rudeness and let the younger girl come along.

"Yo Andi, how ya doing?" Ron said in greeting. "Haven't had much of a chance to talk to you lately. Was wondering how you've been doing? You worried me with how odd you were being those few days a while back during the holidays."

"Seriously, I've been better. You know me and trouble, never too far apart." She laughed a bit as she twisted two fingers together to emphasis the joke.

Without breaking stride in their conversation Andi, Wendy and her two guests took seats around a nice little coffee table while Ida drifted off to her own room. She left her door just slightly ajar though, so as allow her to overhear their conversation and be able to step in if anything untoward was said. If it had been anyone else eavesdropping on her, Andi might have been annoyed but she trusted Ida. Especially, when it came to navigating the dangerous waters around a Styx enforced Oath of secrecy.

"You got in trouble over the holidays?" Ginny asked worriedly, before suddenly growing excited. "What trouble?"

Andi shot Ron an annoyed look, but the boy just returned with an apologetic shrug.

"Just some trouble back home in the States. It was so stressful, it left me feeling like I was someone else for a bit." Andi replied meaningfully.

Ron gave a knowing nod, Ginny however didn't seem to want to let things go just yet.

"What happened? It must have been a big deal for you to suddenly start yammering 'Go Green, or Go Home', free the trees and all that other, uh, echo-friendly talk."

"Eco-friendly." Wendy corrected as she shot Ginny a glare.

Meanwhile, the daughter of Zeus withheld the urge to rub her temples in frustration. Obviously, Mera hadn't covered for her as well as Andi had thought she had.

Ron acting as the good friend he was, easily noted Andi's mounting annoyance and stepped in to rein his sister in.

"Gin, let it go." Ron hissed at her with chiding eyes. "If Andi wanted to tell us, she would have. Respect her privacy."

"I just-" She began hesitantly. "Well, hopefully everything is settled. Right?"

"For now." Andi acknowledged.

"That's good." Ginny said sounding almost genuine though it was hard to tell with how quickly it was smothered by eagerness.

"So~. What about that spell you used in the Second Task?" The younger witch asked with stars in her eyes.

"Ginny." Ron nudged her, but the girl didn't relent.

"I mean, I've never seen anything like that! Could I ever learn stuff like that? It was some kind of charm right? It had to be."

"I wonder which one she's talking about." Wendy observed snidely.

 _Wendy really doesn't like Ginny, does she?_ Andi noted rather obviously. _Not that I blame her. She's such a fangirl._

Andi's Fatal Flaw might be a desire for attention but she wanted to be looked at as a person. Preferably by people who saw her as a friend, not as some idol that was capable of flashy magic. That helped sure, but only to get people to start noticing her. She wanted people to look beyond that and hated those who couldn't.

Like Ginny appeared to be.

Wendy learned in and whispered to Andi in Ancient Greek. "Why is she like this? She's so annoying."

"To be honest, I've got no idea." Andi replied in the same tongue, as she shrugged. "I don't know her that well, so I couldn't guess either. I only know her as Ron's little sister."

"Whatcha whisperin' about?" Ginny tilted her head at them, bewilderment on her face. "Discussing what secrets you can't share? You can tell us, we can keep secrets really well."

Wendy bristled at this, looking at Ginny like she had gone cuckoo.

Ron slapped a hand over his face, groaning loudly at the declaration.

On Andi's part, she just shot her friend a searching look. _Oh gods, did he slip something to her? No, he'd have suffered the Styx's curse if he did. But maybe he told her that I've told him some kinda secret?_

A nudge from her Aura partner broke Andi from her intense thoughts and she gave Ron a look. At his head shake in reply, a pleased smile formed Andi's face. _Good, looks like this is all Ginny._

"Yeah, where'd ya learn those spells? That's what you're all hush about right? Can't tell us?"

 _Point to the older ginger! Good save, Ron._

Ginny on the other hand looked confused. "I just asked that though."

"It's an alt school of magic I picked up." Andi shrugged as she leaned back into her seat some more. "Ida taught me. Still grasping the ropes of it, but by my measure I'm at least above a novice in them."

"Oh!" Ginny exclaimed with gusto. "You live in the colonies, right? So did you learn that from that powerful non-wizard they say lives over there?"

"Uh… I don't know what you're talking about."

"Really?" Ginny said with a pout. "But that you can use spells like that must mean that such people exist, right?"

Ron looked a little panicked at that. Andi could get where he was coming from. She was worried that Ginny might stumble upon the truth too.

"The thing you've gotta remember is that there are a lot of powerful people in the world." Ron said, in a bid to redirect the conversation onto a safer track.

"Like Professor Dumbledore?"

"Yeah, sure. What I mean is, it's a big world out there. You'll never know what you'll see." Andi smiled as convincingly as she could even as her nerves began to fray.

Ida popped her head into the room at this, probably knowing Andi was trying her best to steer away from this topic and thinking it was best to intervene to help her out.

"That's true, there are many such powerful people after all. Why, the Endless Sorceress that lives in Quebec is one of them."

"The Endless Sorceress?"

"Yes, Andi." Ida gave her a motion like they'd talk more about it later as she turned to head back into her room. "There are quite a few actually. We'll cover them soon. Like that hermit with the turtle in Miami."

Wendy nodded to that, apparently these folks were well known to the nymphs. Guess there were still plenty of things that she still needed to learn about when it came to the circles her nature spirit friends lived in.

"What kind of hermit lives in Mami?"

"Miami." Andi corrected. "And who knows. So Ron, I saw you with a girl at the Ball, how'd that happen?"

Catching the switching of topics, Ron's cheeks reddened. "Yeah, well, you know Lisa just up and asked me. I was just, wowed by the whole idea that a girl would be interested in me like that. But I played it cool best I could. Won't lie, I was right nervous, but I stuck to it and now I've got myself a bird."

Andi smiled at him, he was glowing and seemed very happy. "Glad to hear that Ron, good to know you found someone."

"More like she found me!"

The two shared a laugh at this while Ginny giggled a bit along with them.

Wendy rolled her eyes at that.

"Andi, what about you?" Ginny looked sly and hungry for gossip. Andi would know, she'd seen that look on the girls from Cabin Ten. "You had a rather handsome gent with you at the Ball, I hear."

"Ginny, it's none of your business." Ron said as he put a restraining hand on her arm, but she shook him off.

"Come on, Ron, this is girl talk. I'm sure Andi wants to share." Ginny countered confidently.

The daughter of Zeus' eyes narrowed in anger. _Even if I did want to talk about that, there was no way that I'll want to share with a fangirl like you._

"Ginny," Andi addressed the girl sternly. "Like Ron said, it's none of your business."

The redhead witch shrunk in on herself at that rebuke and offered an apology. She kept quiet after that and the conversation continued only a little while longer in a stilted, uneasy way. It was thus not surprising that the group dispersed not long after. With Wendy deciding to cap the uncomfortable meeting by blowing a raspberry at Ginny while the girl's back was turned as the siblings left.

* * *

It was March seventeenth, and Andi was trekking through Diagon Alley on her way to Gringotts.

The Champion of Hecate walked quickly and with purpose towards the bank and she did for she was here on a mission from her matron.

The goddess of magic had sent Andi a letter to remind her about the quest to destroy the Horcruxes. It ticked the demigod right off, it did. She had been planning to go after it once she had gotten all her distractions out of the way. But here was the goddess, chasing her to get going immediately? By Olympus, she had plenty of things on her plate at the moment, was the quest really so time sensitive all of a sudden, that she had to handle it right away?

Andi, didn't know and frankly didn't care. Oh, she'd get it done but she'd not be happy about it. Not that she'd let anyone know that. She'd had enough flak over this issue already to know better than to complain about Hecate's unreasonable demands.

So to satisfy her boss's sudden need for haste, Andi had ended up getting Mera to cover for her once more, which was a trial all by itself. The dryad had been very reluctant to help her again. After the incident in the lake, she'd become an odd mix of furious at and scared of Andi.

And wasn't discovering that she now had to deal with ticked off nymphs because of one incident just another thing to make her already bad mood even worse.

It was self bloody defense!

Okay, she might have gone a little _overboard_ , but it was still self defense.

In the end it had taken Ida quite a bit of effort to smooth things over and get the dryad's help.

Thankfully, the weather meant that Andi could get away with a simple disguise. All she'd needed was to slip on a hoodie and she could hide her face and all anyone who saw her assumed was that she was trying to keep her head from getting soaked from the rain washing the alley. Her anonymity was further protected by the fact that the wizards generally believed that she was stuck at Hogwarts with the Tournament going on.

Personally, she was grateful that Ida had come up with this disguise. Andi's own idea was to use the Mist to disguise herself, but Ida had vetoed it. She felt that Andi wasn't skilled enough with it to maintain a disguise powerful enough to fool a whole street of Mist resistant Wizards.

 _I might be able to, but probably not for long. I shouldn't risk it._

Walking alongsider her were Wendy, Bianca, and Silena.

After deciding - or more accurately being forced - to set out on this mission, Andi had I. Camp for some reinforcements. Her first recruit had been Bianca. The daughter of Hades was an absolute necessity after all if Andi wanted to deal the Horcrux, what with her powers over death. They would, if nothing else, would make things a whole lot easier for them. Silena was a more luck of the draw addition to the team. She'd been nearby when Andi had contacted Bianca and had jumped into the conversation to offer her greetings. Once she'd heard about the mission though, she insisted on coming along. Not seeing a problem with an extra demigod coming along, Andi had easily agreed.

"Is London always this rainy?" Bianca asked with a glare at the pouring rain. She was obviously not happy with being soaked as the rain overwhelmed the protection offered by the Camp's poncho that she and Silena was wearing.

Surprisingly, despite the wet weather likely ruining her outfit and look, the daughter of Aphrodite didn't complain one whit. Instead, enduring it stoically and giving off a strong sense of determination.

Andi found that a little odd but chalked it up to her friend being focused on helping her out.

"Yep!" Andi said, popping the P.

"It's not that bad, it cleans this dirty place up every once in awhile." Wendy wrinkled her nose.

In contrast to her friends, her partner was enjoying the rain immensely. She was even occasionally jumping into puddles they walked across to splash some water around in merriment.

"I guess." The Italian girl replied to the Aura's statement uncertainly. "But even with the rain,, it's nice to get out once in awhile. Camp was getting a little cramped."

Brushing a damp bang under the hood of her poncho, a diamond encrusted black bangle on Bianca's wrist glittered. Andi smiled at the sight of the gift from Hades to his daughter, happy on her cousin's behalf that her dad so obviously cared about her. Something that so few demigods could say about their godly parents.

Andi hadn't seen the thing's true form yet, but according to Bianca it was a wicked barbed seven foot spear made of stygian iron. A rare Underworld metal that was as black as night and made everyone but Nico and herself that looked at it feel uneasy.

The daughter of Zeus hoped that they wouldn't need to use it today.

"This place does look pretty cool. Even with everyone hiding indoors to get out of the rain." Bianca commented as her eyes darted in every direction.

"Agreed." Silena said, sounding impressed. "There's fantastical things everywhere."

"It still can't match my Father's palace or Olympus though." Bianca shrugged.

The daughter of Aphrodite nodded in agreement while looking at a pet shop where all kinds of exotic animals were hollering due to the rain and occasional thunder.

"It's hard for mortals to try and match up to that." Silena offered generously, before her tone turned scathing. "Now if only their culture wasn't so terrible."

Andi agreed but said nothing. She didn't want to set Silena off. The older girl could rant and rave against the wizards for hours at a time if you gave her the chance.

Searching for a distraction, the witch spotted a quaint little jewelry store nearby. It was the one that she had mail ordered Bianca's birthday gift from. The present had been a locket shaped like a white feather with a golden chain.

"Hey, sorry for forgetting your birthday, Bianca." Andi smiled apologetically, since her cousin's birthday had been on the fourteenth and she hadn't known until a few days before, thus forcing her to scramble to prepare a gift. She'd preferred to have gotten the girl something more meaningful than simple jewelry but with so little forewarning, she'd been forced to settle for a girl's best friend.

Not upset in the least, Bianca offered her a warm smile. "That's fine, it was a wonderful gift. I was able to get my Father to round up an old photo of my-my mom." Here, the daughter of Hades looked a little teary and what was clearly not a raindrop rolled down her cheek. "So you two gave me wonderfully compatible gifts."

"What did Nico get you?" Wendy looked curious.

"Mythomagic cards!" Bianca and Silena both said with exasperated sighs.

"Huh, I swore the Stolls would have had him hooked on Indian Poker by now."

Bianca grumbled at the mention of the twins. Obviously, she didn't approve of their influence on her little brother.

"Seriously though, Andi, you really didn't need to get me something so expensive."

"Meh, I've got cash to burn. Not like I use it all that much." The daughter of Zeus shrugged. "Why not spoil my friends if I'm not using it."

"Your money isn't infinite, Andi." Silena commented chidingly. "You really should be investing it, not splurging it on extravagant gifts."

"And if I live long enough I'll get a job, like a proper working lass." Andi snorted at she thought of the heaps and heaps of gold that the Potter family vaults held. "Besides, Ida has that under control."

"If you say so." Silena replied doubtfully, clearly unsatisfied that Andi was being so flippant with her money.

"How's it feel to be thirteen, Bianca?" Andi said quickly, desperate to change the topic. She got enough grief for the stupid things she did from loads of people already, she didn't need Silena getting on her case too.

"It was a real life changer for me." Just saying that was enough to bring a smile to Andi's face as she recalled the summer where she learned just who she really was.

The daughter of Hades shrugged. "It's not that big of a deal. Nothing feels any different."

"Give it time." Silena smiled with a knowing look. "You just graduated from preeteen. Now your next big step is your Sweet Sixteen."

"That's only if the world doesn't end before that." Andi nonchalantly commented.

For some reason that logical fact caused Silena to cringe away. Again, Andi found this odd. Surely Silena knew that with the Titan War ongoing, the end of the world was a very real threat. Considering how tough Silena was, why was she so worried that the worse would come to pass? Or did the talk about the end of the world trigger something else?

Not knowing Andi's concerns, a confused Wendy asked, "What's the big deal with turning sixteen anyways?"

"It's all about a coming of age thing, I think." Andi said with an uncertain shrug even as she shot her cousin a questioning look.

Bianca however was no help. She looked just as lost as Andi was. No surprise there, she was still catching up on modern society.

"I think Andi is right, but I don't know what that means exactly either."

"Aw." Wendy whined, disappointed that she couldn't get a decent answer.

Shaking herself out of the stupor she had been stuck in since the talk about the world ending, Silena rejoined the conversation.

"I'll explain it to you." The daughter of love offered, her voice still a little shaken. "But later, ok?"

"Sure!" The young Aura cheered. "Thanks Silena!"

"So all this talk about ages and all has got me curious." The daughter of Hades said with a glance towards Wendy. "Just how old are you?"

Wendy puffed up her chest with pride and declared. "I'm three years old!"

If the look on the Italian girl's face was anything to go by, the answer had left Bianca baffled big time.

Feeling for her friend, Andi explained with a small smile. "Wendy's an Aura, her life cycle is different than ours. So she matures a bit more quickly. Though she still takes naps like a toddler."

Wendy looked as red as her hair in embarrassment. "I-I only take one once in awhile!"

"That and she's immortal." Silena added in Wendy's defence. "The normal rules don't really apply when it comes to beings like that."

"Yup. Yup." Wendy said nodding her head in eager agreement with the oldest of the demigoddesses.

The Aura missed it but Andi didn't. Silena might have seemed like she'd gotten herself back under control, but there was still an odd look in her eye that said otherwise.

"Silena, you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, just peachy." The daughter of Aphrodite said in a teasing manner even as the haunted look in her eyes remained unchanged.

"Did the talk about the world ending upset you?" Bianca suggested softly.

"Uh. Yeah, that's it."

Andi exchanged a disbelieving look with Bianca. That wasn't convincing. At all.

"Why don't we just focus on this quest for now?" Silena offered sounding almost desperate.

The others exchanged another series of looks and without saying a word agreed not to push their obviously vulnerable friend any further.

"Sure." "Okay." "Alright."

Everyone was still unsettled by what had just happened however and they continued their walk to Gringotts in an uncomfortable silence.

A silence that was starting to set off Andi's ADHD, and she was feeling on the verge of saying something, anything, to alleviate the tension when Bianca walked up beside her and asked. "Hey, can we talk in private for a sec? I know we have to do this quest, but I was just…"

She left the request hanging in the air and Andi of course agreed to it. If her friend needed to talk, she was more than happy to do so.

Plus she _really_ needed a distraction before she did something stupid.

Apparently having heard what Bianca had said, Silena and Wendy had fallen back a little to give the cousins some privacy. The daughter of love seemingly also taking the opportunity to fill the Aura in on the meaning of turning sixteen as well.

 _Thanks guys. Though I want to hear Silena's explanation too. Guess I'll just have to ask Wendy to tell me later._

"So, Camp is fun. Clarisse has been a brutal teacher for spear practice though." The daughter of Hades grimaced. "Nico's doing well. He's hanging out with the Stolls too much though. He's been getting into some trouble, but nothing too bad. I guess I've told you all that already, right?"

"Yeah." Andi said with an amused drawl. "Okay, now that you've got that off your chest, what's eating you?"

Bianca's freckled face flustered. "Well, it's just...okay, no one's openly picked on us, but a lot of people are staying distant? I don't think they like us that much."

The daughter of Zeus' heart tightened at that. "You're a sweetheart Bianca, I find that hard to believe."

"No, it's just, I don't think a lot of people like us because of our Father." Bianca looked down at the road. "Nico said he had a lot of friends in Cabin Eleven before they found out he was a son of Hades. Now? Most of them have started to keep their distance. It's unsettling."

Andi was upset now. "Are you sure no one's picking on you? Because I _really_ don't like bullies. Especially those bullying my friends."

Bianca held up her hands. "No, no one's done anything like that. Though, Cabin Four is pretty hostile towards us. I think they might soon."

"Unfortunately, we can't do anything about that." Andi shook her head. "That's just a result of the rivalry between your godly parents. It's just like Cabins Five and Six, cats and dogs and all that. You know, it's about the whole Persephone thing."

The daughter of Hades blanched at the mention of her step-mother. "Father commented he wanted to introduce Nico and I to her next winter. I'm not really sure it's going to go as well as he's hoping."

"I honestly can't comment on that, but I kind of agree with you." Andi said truthfully, after all she hadn't met with Hera yet and was leery of doing so.

The daughter of Hades gave a disappointed sigh. "Darn. I was hoping you'd be able to give me some advice."

"Sorry about that."

"It's okay." Bianca said with a reassuring smile. "At least it isn't for a while yet. In the meantime at least, I'll just not let the prospect of that meeting affect me too much. At least Nico's pranks with the Stolls against Cabin Four are distracting, they're always funny."

Andi frowned once again, especially with how tickled Bianca was over it. "That's not good, Bianca. We really can't afford to be at each other's throats. And frankly, from experience, if he keeps this up, Aunt Demeter is not going to be happy with him."

"Doesn't she already not like us?"

"Not the point!" Andi hissed in a low voice. "I've got gods hating me already and trying to kill me. You want that to happen to Nico? To you?"

Bianca slowly shook her head negatively.

"Good, then you've got to get him to stop. Have Chiron talk to him if ya gotta. Or ask the Stolls to stop inviting him on pranks. You gotta nip it in the bud now before it screws up his life."

"Aren't they just meaningless little pranks?"

"You tell that to a god when they're pissed. It won't end up a pretty picture. They won't even care if he's a kid or if he's Uncle Hades' kid, some gods are just trigger happy and damn the consequences if they're angry enough."

Bianca's olive complexion paled and she gulped a little. "I-I'll talk to him, maybe with Chiron too."

"Yeah, and get him to stop hanging out with the Stolls so much. They are kinda bullies."

"We live in the same Cabin." Bianca pointed out. "And we don't exactly have a lot a space in there to begin with."

"You can at least try." Andi urged. "At least get him to see that they aren't the best friends to have."

"I've been doing that." The Italian girl huffed, crossing her arms.

"Try a smidge harder then."

Bianca offered a firm nod. "Alright, I'll do my best, Andi."

The daughter of Zeus smiled and patted her shoulder. "All I ask. And as for your whole issue with people keeping their distance? They're just adjusting to you guys, like they had to with me and Percy. And you two are adjusting to Camp too. It's a process that you'll just need to go through."

Bianca just nodded.

With their conversation done, the two cousins exchanged a smile and rejoined their two companions.

By this point, the tension that seemed to hang around Silena earlier had lifted and the remaining walk to the Wizarding Bank was in a thankfully comfortable silence.

Not that it was a long distance anyways, as only a few minutes later the group arrived at Gringotts and looked up the stairs at the impressive multistoried snow-white marble building.

"Let me do the talking, hopefully we get in and out." Andi told them as they walked up the steps. "A regular wham, bam, thank you ma'am kinda deal."

Silena colored at this. "Andi, that's not how you use that phrase."

"Same context for here though right?"

"...Not really."

* * *

It hadn't taken much for Andi to get a meeting with the manager of her family accounts. Contrary to what she'd told Silena earlier, Andi actually did pay attention to her money. Not much, mind you, but enough that it wasn't a surprise when she requested a meeting to go over things.

"So Miss Potter, you wish to discuss something?" Sharpblade, the Potter Family Accounts manager, asked as he took a seat behind his desk in his ornate office.

"Yeah, I have some information to pass on and would like to speak with a senior manager." The daughter of Zeus said as politely as possible as she took the seat that Sharpblade indicated to her.

His lips twisted into a sneer. "And what would a minor such as yourself need to speak with a senior manager about?"

Silena began mumbling about terrible customer service in the background, but Andi ignored her. The goblins had always treated wizards, clients or not, with contempt. Something which come to think of it was curious, particularly as they tended to treat muggleborns and their muggle parents with respect.

Andi took a deep breath and began to explain. "I've come to suspect that there is a Horcrux of Voldemort's here in Gringotts. Within the Lestrange vault to be exact."

He barked a laugh at her. "A likely story."

"It's true."

"Miss Potter, if we have nothing to discuss about your accounts, please see yourself and your companions out" He shooed them all away.

Andi was ready to make her case, but before she could Silena began to speak up, her voice laden with the power of her Charmspeak.

"Can you please-ow!" She was cut off by a panicky Wendy stepping on her foot. But it was too late, a terrible screech filled the room, an alarm of some kind. Overhead, a set of sprinklers went off and a terrified looking Sharpblade fled the room like a frightened child. As he fled, the doors to the room slammed shut behind him and glowing runes sprung up on them and the walls, roof and floor.

As the girls were soaked, Andi rounded on Silena and hissed. "What did you do?!"

"I was just trying to Charmspeak him into hearing us out."

Andi covered her eyes with a groan. "They've got wizards with mind altering spells, of course they have measures for that kind of thing, Silena!"

The daughter of Aphrodite looked panicked. "I-I'm sorry! He wasn't listening, so I thought that I could…"

Suddenly, a voice echoed from all around the girls.

"Invaders! Drop your weapons, all of them, and surrender!"

Andi rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration, but complied as she unclipped Skyline from her belt and tossed it a few feet from her. Wendy followed her example immediately and pulled her Phoenix feather from her hair and placed it next to Andi's weapon.

Bianca and Silena shot Andi gobsmacked looks.

"Look, we don't want a fight here. So do as they say!" Andi informed her two friends even as she glowered at Silena, still pissed that things had come to this.

Grudgingly, the other two demigods did the same.

As their weapons joined the pile, the room once more echoed with a resounding voice. "Good. Now step away from the pile." The girls obeyed, inching away from their weapons. "We're coming in. Make no sudden movements."

The 'or else' was clear if unsaid as the voice stopped speaking.

Almost immediately all the doors to the room swung open and a squad of goblin guards marched in. They wore plate armor and were armed with muskets, all of which were emblazoned with a host of glowing runes. The goblins all looked murderous and had their guns firmly pointed at the questers, ready to fire at the slightest sign of anything untoward.

"Guys, calm down. Please." Andi stood in front of her friends and looked at the goblins. "No one is here for a fight. I'm really sorry. My friend here was just overzealous. I swear."

A dangerous little thing shouldered through the squad, wearing a set of particularly ornate looking plate armor and with a sawed-off shotgun of all things in his palms. Like his compatriots, all his gear was covered in runes but the sheer number of runes and the complexity of their patterns that were etched onto his equipment put theirs to shame.

 _Huh, seems someone's at least keeping up with the times. Ugh, stupid ADHD. Focus!_

"Overzealous is a grave understatement." The ornately armored goblin grunted at her. "An attempt at mind control is a serious crime indeed."

Silena made an attempt to defend herself, but Andi cut her off as fast as she could. "Yes, it is. But we are after all dealing with Voldemort's Horcrux here. I think you can understand why we'd be antsy."

The armored goblin sneered at her. Great, she was getting a lot of those today. "So you claim."

"It's true." Andi held out her arms in a gesture to show she had nothing to hide. "You can go check yourself if you're so sure I'm a liar."

"And why should we do so on the word of criminals?"

Bianca and Silena looked affronted by this.

"It's just one crazy thing after another with you isn't it, Andi?" Wendy commented with an exasperated sigh.

 _I know!_ Andi bemoaned.

She didn't dwell on it though, the situation at hand was too tense to afford distractions. In fact, the tension in the room was so thick, that Andi could tell that unless she did something it was going to end up with them being attacked in a few minutes.

"Alright, cut to the chase. What do you want?"

"What makes you think we want anything?" The lead goblin asked with an amused air.

"Look, if you thought we were just a bunch of liars, you'd have shot us up by now." Andi observed. "I'll say it again. Stop pussyfooting around playing your games and just tell me what the hell you want!"

"What do you think?" He replied with a swarmy smile.

You could practically smell the greed wafting off the goblin at this point.

 _Damn these slimy bean counters are just as in love with gold as the wizards say they are._

"A thousand galleons for you to check." Andi flat out offered, crossing her arms in a show of firmness.

Andi heard her friends gasp behind her, and she couldn't help but wonder if they even knew how much that really meant.

The goblin leader barked a laugh at her, grating Andi's nerves in the process. "That doesn't even cover the cost of all the Thief's Downfall we're using to prevent your little _friend_ from mind controlling us innocent goblins. Not to mention the cost of pumping it through the sprinkler system. No no, we'll need at least a third of all your gold. That should cover our costs nicely and leave a little _extra_ to ensure we don't press charges."

Andi smiled back at him, he had to be joking. He was certainly smiling as if he was.

Deciding to play along, and gain some goodwill, she counter offered. "Aw~ But that's too much! How about a quarter instead?"

The goblin guards looked flabbergasted, one was so shocked that he dipped his shoulders and was forced to readjust his musket's aim.

 _Oh gods, he_ wasn't _joking..._

"Deal!" The lead goblin declared with finality even as he sported a victorious smirk.

"Wait! I was just joking." Andi screamed desperately.

"Then you are a fool." The goblin leader replied. "A deal is a deal. Unless you'd prefer we arrest you and your friends and charge the lot of you with attempted mind control? I hear Azkaban is almost bearable this time of the year."

The daughter of Zeus' head sank at that. She could fight this, either physically by storming the bank or in court, but either way it was bad for her. Either she ruined what little she had left of a place in the Wizarding World, possibly jeopardizing her participation in the Triwizard Tournament and thus her magic which would piss Hecate off. Or she gets kicked out without the Horcrux and pisses off Hecate.

Neither were good options. Then again losing a quarter of her money wasn't one either.

It was like Scylla and Charybdis all over again.

"Fine." Andi said through gritted teeth.

The goblin in the fancy armor tilted his head in a mock bow. "Now that you're done behaving like a spoiled little girl, it's time for introductions. My name is Grendelmin, Head of Arms and one of the Directors of Gringotts. It was a _pleasure_ doing business with you."

Her shoulders shaking in frustration at the whole situation, Andi was in no mood for pleasantries. She was too busy berating herself furiously.

"No introductions?" Grendelmin said in a huff. "Such a rude child."

Swallowing her anger, Andi introduced her party. Now wasn't the time to let her anger cloud her judgement and if pretending to be polite, even when all she wanted was to rip the other guy's head off, could help the situation then she'd do it.

With introductions out of the way, Andi asked through gritted teeth. "Are you going to check the Horcrux at least?"

"We can humor you, I suppose. What does the item in question look like?" Grendelmin smiled cruelly.

"It's a cup. Hufflepuff's cup to be exact." The daughter of Zeus curtly informed, drawing on the description provided by Hecate's list to give more details. "It's a small golden cup with a badger engraved on the side and a few jewels."

The little swindler looked towards one of his men and said something in the goblin language. The guard nodded and walked out of the room.

It was roughly fifteen minutes later that the goblin returned and whispered into Grendelmin's pointed ear. Nodding, the Head of Arms looked at Andi with a serious look.

"It seems you are correct." He said even as a wary looking squad of goblins arrived, the Cup floating in a field of visible magic between them that hissed and sparked as the water from the sprinklers rained on it.

Andi looked relieved by this and said. "Would you be so kind as to hand it over? Bianca here's got a special spell that can cleanse it."

"Is that so? Fascinating." Grendlemin replied sounding completely unimpressed. "And what will you pay us for this service?"

"You've gotta be joking." Andi frowned at them.

"I assure you, and this is a freebie for a fool like you, that I am not." Grendelmin offered condescendingly.

Andi bristled at that, but kept herself in check. Even as her friends all glared at the goblins, angry on her behalf.

Unperturbed, the goblin continued. "Let me spell things out for you. It's against both our policy and your kind's laws to hand you anything from someone else's vaults. As such we'll need some payment for the risks we'd be undertaking to do so."

"Are you serious?" Bianca demanded incredulous at everything.

The lead goblin sneered at them. "Would you rather I tell the world that you tried to rob us?"

"We did no such thing!" Wendy exclaimed, her cheeks puffed up in indignation.

"Really? Because from my perspective that's exactly what you're doing. After all, you're demanding to take hold of something that you don't own." The little thing tutted at them chidingly.

"And you're holding onto one of Voldemort's Horcruxes! With that, he still lives. He was your enemy too." The daughter of Zeus pointed out in a firm tone.

Grendelmin just smirked. "And who would believe you if you said that, Miss Killer?"

Andi rolled her eyes at her 'new title' and his attempt to get to her. "Dumbledore."

"Perhaps. And do you think that will help you?"

"Of course. He's-"

"Not stupid enough to sell out the last of his fading political capital and influence to back such a ludicrous claim on the basis of your word alone."

"You'd be surprised what he'd do to stop Tom Riddle." Andi said with a small smile.

Grendelmin's smirk didn't fade, instead it grew even more feral. "Then let him try and destroy himself. After all, that might not be the Cup he sees in the end."

"If that's the case, he'd be ruined." Bianca frowned.

"Exactly. Either way, we goblins win." Grendelmin crowed triumphantly. "Either we get our money or we get to see the wizards tear down one of their own leaders."

"You're looking at this wrong. I mean if you help me here, you goblins would be hailed as heroes for helping to slay Voldemort. Something you guys deserve." Andi said in earnest, being truly sincere.

The goblin guards muttered amongst themselves, looking like they quite liked the idea. For a moment, Andi had hope.

And then it was quickly dashed.

"Good try, little witch." The goblin said, sounding amused. "Unfortunately it wouldn't work. The very existence of Horcruxes is, rightly, kept a carefully guarded secret by all magicals. The cost of it reaching the ears of those who would create them is too high, as Voldemort proves. Hence, any attempt to glorify us for destroying it would be suppressed not just by the ministry but by the Goblin Nation ourselves."

"But you could spin it to not mention Horcruxes."

Grendelmin shook his head, looking wistful. "The risks of someone discovering the truth are simply too high."

He seemed to shake off his almost friendly mood quickly though and adopted the feral look he'd sported for the majority of the encounter so far. "So will you pay or not?"

Andi rubbed her eyes, her options spent, literally. "You know what? How much?"

"The same as last time?"

"You don't think I'd fall for that again, do you? No, a tenth."

Grendelmin just shrugged. "You can't blame a goblin for trying."

Turning he gestured at the goblins holding the Cup and gestured for them to leave.

"What are you doing?" Andi demanded from him.

"You won't pay the proper price, so I'll simply have this put back in its proper place."

"But it's Voldemort's Horcrux!?"

"And what difference does that make? It did not harm us sitting in our vaults for years, so it's obviously perfectly safe."

She couldn't believe this, were they really such greedy bastards?

"So just because it's not harmed your kind, you're willing to let it be used as a tool to allow Voldemort to extend his life and his ability to hurt and kill others."

"Yes. After all, unlike you wizards we have not been resting on our laurels since the last war. We have new weapons," he gestured to his shotgun. "And made other preparations. We'll be ready."

 _He's serious!_ Andi realized with a start. _If that's the case… I've gotta change tack._

"Okay, a quarter it is." The daughter of the King of Olympus said coyly, deliberately not specifying a quarter of what.

The others apparently not catching on or affronted by the still immense size of the bribe, all protested but Andi just shushed them.

"Ah! You're learning. How quaint." Grendelmin noted with amusement. "Unfortunately, you are but a mere novice at this game. We'll accept a quarter, yes, but of your original balance."

"Can't blame a girl for trying." Andi said with a shake of her head, before she reluctantly continued. "Deal."

"Good." The Gringotts director said with a nod, before signaling to his men to bring the Cup to Bianca.

The daughter of Hades eyed the goblins nervously as she reached into the field of magic that kept the cursed artifact afloat and pulled it out. Focusing her powers, a fiery black energy surrounded the Cup for a moment and it gave off a screeching wail.

And with that, it was over.

"Now, about the return fee." Grendelmin smiled broadly towards the girls, as his men recovered the Cup from the Italian girl. "And to cover our _mutual_ crime of course."

Andi had been expecting that. The goblins were obviously going to milk her for all she was worth. So it was with resignation that she asked, "How much?"

"Another third of your original balance should suffice."

The other girls were flabbergasted by this.

"They're trying to bankrupt you!" Bianca whispered in dismay to Andi.

The daughter of Zeus grunted in displeasure. "I get why wizards say you're such greedy little bastards. Alright, fifteen percent of what I've got or no deal."

The goblin looked tickled pink as he spoke. "If that's the case, I'm sure the Ministry will love to know that Andromeda Potter just robbed Gringotts!"

"Yeah, with empty pockets. Just take the twenty five percent, you ugly shite." Andi sneered at him this time. It was only fair. "Of my original gold. No scam."

"Pleasure doing business with you."

Andi resisted the urge to flip him the bird as she and her group recovered their weapons and left.

* * *

As they walked out the bank, Silena was by her side in a second with teary eyes. Even with that and looking drenched from being under the sprinklers for the whole encounter with the blasted goblins, she somehow still looked glamorous.

"Andi, I am so sorry. I swear, if I had known! H-How much did you lose?"

The daughter of Zeus shook her head. "No, it's fine. It was my own damn fault."

"No, it was mine." Silena berated herself. "If I hadn't jumped the gun like that, you might have managed to convince them to help without bribing them."

Andi shook her head. "I doubt that. From how things went down, I can tell they wouldn't have helped me. Not without me losing some of my money. They love their gold."

"But there has to be some kind of limit on how much they could have fleeced off of you." Bianca frowned as they made it to the base of the steps.

"Exactly! They were bullies!" Wendy nodded rigorously in firm agreement.

Andi just shrugged. "That's real life, gals. It's full of people like that. It's why I try to smack them whenever I can, reduce their numbers. But still…"

"Andi, I'll fix this." Silena took both her hands into her own and held them firmly, her blue eyes spilling some tears, "I don't know how, but I'll make this up to you. S-Somehow. I promise."

"Hey, don't worry bout it." Andi smiled at her.

 _All I want is to forget that this ever happened._

"It's just money after all. Besides, with this there's only got one more Horcrux on my list! Progress if anything else." Andi winked at her cheerfully.

 _Hopefully this will satisfy Hecate for now. If I'm lucky it might even help my rep with the other gods._

* * *

 **Done and done! Another somewhat small chapter for us. At least it's not over 10k! Thanks to the team of Nameless and Axios as always.**

 **Now, onto the AN. Dirty, money-grubbing Clorfors, clorfed Andi right out of her money!**

 **Nameless: Poor Andi. She just got fleeced. And very badly too. Don't worry though she'll get quite a bit of money soon. So this won't really hurt her much.**

 **On another note, some people might be thinking the goblins seem needlessly cruel. If you are then that means we did the scene well. Keep in mind that it's from Andi's point of view and she's not privy to the goblins' mindset. They are greedy bastards and seem to hate wizards (which they think she is), hence them robbing her at every opportunity is a given.** **As for them just letting the Horcrux be. Of course they're not** _ **that**_ **dumb. They would have arranged for it to be destroyed no matter what. Unfortunately, Andi was too worked up to realize that and so fell for their bluff.**

 **E4E: Now, onto more important things, like Bianca! Yes, my lil Italino is back with a wicked spear in hand. We fleshed out her and Nico's interactions at camp too. Let's face it, Nico had a hard time when he was a gloomy outcast, but here he's still treated like that with his happy puppy disposition. The campers can be dicks, and rivalries are strong with them like Andi had said.**

 **But the real happy moment for me was when she told Bianca not to let Nico go and do something stupid like gain a grudge against Cabin Four or Bianca doing the same. Demeter is a temperamental mommy. Andi's got enough gods hating her, so she's got advice in spades on that front. So yay for Andi wisdom! As rare as it is in this book.**

 **Nameless: Shrug. I'll be honest that I'm not feeling the love for the di Angelos. They don't excite me here, since they feel like just another pair of tagalongs in Andi's circle.**

 **It's just the excitement of nudging away from canon a bit. Since people do gloomy Nico to death, it's refreshing to change it up.**

 **Nameless: Yeah, yeah. I get that. Just saying they aren't interesting characters at the moment. And you know what that means… [rubs hands ominously.]**

 **Oh Wheel of Misfortune turn turn turn, show us the grimdark we shall write! Yearn? Dammit!**

 **Nameless: [Cackles evilly]**

 **Now, you know what to do! Smash that review button! No flames of course and peace off my peeps!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter**

 **The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans**

 **Chapter Sixteen: Horcrux Horrors**

 **Beta: ShadowofAxios**

* * *

In a private little corner of the expansive Hogwarts library, Andi had set up a study nook to work on an assignment for Ida's magic lessons. Specifically, she'd been tasked to research godly invocations and to pick out and dissect a spell she found particularly interesting.

It was a test of sorts that the ancient nymph had given Andi to see if she was advanced enough to study such magic, something which she said was a big step forward. Andi was determined to do well and impress her tutor, thus proving that she had been right to trust that the demigod was ready to take this step.

Having been working hard for the past few hours, the daughter of Zeus decided it was time to take a break. Stretching a little she tried to ease the soreness that her hours hunched over dozens of ancient tomes, not to mention lugging the books down to the library from her suite in the first place had caused. Sure, she could've just worked on her studies in the suite but she'd wanted a change of scenery. Now as her muscles ached a little, she almost regretted it.

Almost.

The Hogwarts library had always been one of her favorite places to study. Surrounded by tens of thousands of books; thousands of shelves; hundreds of narrow rows and filled with a strictly enforced quiet, it was the perfect place for academic pursuit.

Gods, she almost sounded like Hermione!

That thought brought her enthusiasm to a screeching halt.

In a bid to distract herself from that train of thought she began fiddling with the binding of a particularly thick tome and glanced around her. Everyone else in the library was giving her a wide berth, no student wanted to be within twenty feet of her.

That was fine though, she could honestly give zero cares about it.

She knew where they were coming from. She _did_ go overboard in the Second Task after all. She nevertheless didn't care for the fickle opinions of wizards. Never had and never would, so she ignored them. Well, for the most part anyways.

There was one person in the library that she _did_ care about.

Seated in a far corner of the library behind literal walls of books was Hermione, Andi's erstwhile best friend. Someone who Andi was very, very strongly tempted to reach out to. To make sure that she was doing okay.

Seeing the other girl alone on the opposite side of the room, Andi was tempted to just walk over and talk to her.

Resisting that impulse, the daughter of Zeus opted to look back at her aged reading material.

Some bridges just couldn't be mended and Andi did not fault Hermione for not wishing to try.

Some things couldn't be forgiven.

Focusing back on her reading, something caught Andi's eye. "Invoking divine judgements, huh? I wonder how that works."

* * *

Andi trekked through the 'Forbidden' Forest, occasionally glancing at the map drawn onto a large card she gripped in her hand for the directions to her destination: a large clearing deep inside the forest.

"Alright, I'm here. Time to say the words… Oh golden sun brah. Car sleek and sexy fine. It's shooting time...that's six syllables though." Andi blinked her eyes, narrowing them as she looked at the card more closely.

Yep, that was all six lines.

The demigoddess couldn't help the embarrassed blush that spread across her face at reading the awful Haiku that the sun god's note had said would call him down from the heavens.

You see, a couple days ago the sun god had sent her a card with instructions on how to redeem the archery lessons that he'd offered her back on the Winter Solstice.

Eager to redeem her lessons with the god of archery, Andi had followed the written instructions to the letter. Up to and including coming alone and even reading that truly atrocious Haiku.

"What? Dammit! Now I have to rethink it!" A jovial voice cried out, sounding almost pouty.

"Lord Apollo." Andi squashed her surprise and greeted him with a nervous bow. Hoping that the god had not taken her criticism too badly.

 _Damn my slip of the tongue._

The sun god looked like an exceedingly handsome young man as usual. He had bronzed skin, golden hair and sky blue eyes, all with a smile that could blind you, literally. Andi had to admit, her cheeks heated up a bit, and it wasn't just from the heat radiating from the red maserati he was leaning against.

Every time she saw the sun god, she felt like she was looking at a future Will, and in her somewhat biased opinion, her boyfriend was going to be one McDreamy stud muffin one day.

"Deadly aim ahoy?" Apollo pondered as he tapped his chin with a pen as he crossed some lines on the notepad that had appeared from nowhere. "No, too pirate-y. I should go ninja! Everyone knows ninjas are way cooler."

Andi stayed silent, letting the god do his work as she waited in respectful silence. Fidgeting every so often out of sheer nerves.

The god rambled on for fifteen minutes before he finally shouted in victory! "Aha! I teach youths. Not my best, but we'll roll with it."

"Good job by the way." The sun god congratulated, his face serious. "Looks like you've learnt some restraint."

The demigod had a feeling that was going to be touched on a lot today.

"That's right!"

 _And my privacy's gone. Just roll with it._ Andi told herself as she smiled.

Apollo gave an amused sigh. "And that's what we'll need to work on."

"Copy that." Andi nodded as she moved closer to the god and looked at his flashy sports car. She'd never seen something so expensive looking. A mortal ride must have cost a fortune, she wondered what kind of engine ran the embodiment of the sun.

"Like my ride?" The sun god said, his serious demeanour evaporating in an instant to be replaced by the lighthearted one he often wore.

"That's good, natural even. It's totally awesome." The god said preening with pride.

"Oh, uh, sorry." She quickly apologized to him. "Didn't mean to stare."

"No problem. Just watch whose stuff you're gawking at." Apollo warned. "Not everyone appreciates it."

"Right." Andi nodded. "Gawking to a minimum."

"Well? Hop on in!" The god told her as he pulled out a pair of aviators. "We ride towards the sunset!"

Getting into the car, Andi nervously took a seat and belted herself in even as Apollo reminded her to do so. Slipping into the driver's seat, he explained that after the whole Phaethon debacle every demigod had to strap-in if they were ever in the sun chariot.

The daughter of the skies just nodded, her nerves not helped at all but that reminder of the son of Helios and his unfortunate end.

Her worries were however quickly cast aside as with a quick jerk of the wheel and press of the accelerator, Apollo had the sun soaring into the sky. The adrenaline junkie in her reveled at the sudden burst of speed, and she had to actively work at restraining herself from letting out a whoop of excitement.

However as the car levelled off, Andi couldn't hold back entirely anymore. As such with the wind fluttering her hair, she peeked over the edge of the flying red Maserati and looked down on the land as it zipped by far below. The air was thin but as a daughter of Zeus, she was perfectly comfortable despite the altitude.

"I swear, I've never seen a demigod crash and burn that badly on a driver's exam. Literally in that case!" Apollo said continuing the tale of poor Phaethon. Turning her attention back to the god, Andi noted that he wasn't belted in at all. In fact, having flicked the autopilot on, he'd stood up and summoned his regal golden bow into his hands.

He took aim as an arrow of light flickered into existence and fired it at a billboard that featured the Cool-Aid man and put a hole right between his eyes.

"Sunny Dee's better!" He called out as he sat back down and looked at her excitedly. "Your turn!"

Andi looked down at her seatbelt.

"No worries, if you fall, you can fly to safety." He waved off Andi's concern, ignoring how his words caused her eyes to widen with panic.

And no, she didn't suddenly feel short of breath. It was the altitude!

Not wanting to look like a scaredy cat, Andi unbuckled and stood up, locking her feet firmly. She looked at the god as respectfully as she could manage. "Do you mind if I use a sticking charm?"

Ugh, she felt like a total dweeb now.

Her cheeks colored as he chuckled good naturedly. "Sure, just don't ruin the seat or I'll smite you."

And he wasn't kidding, even while smiling the entire time.

Ignoring the shudder down her spine, Andi applied sticking charms to her soles and pulled out Skyline in bow form. Nocking a wind arrow, she began to look around for a target.

"Lift your elbow an inch more." He told her as he adjusted their course by turning the wheel with one hand.

"Also, calm down, you're too tense. It's like do or die with you, go with the flow. "

Nodding, Andi did her best to follow his instructions. Her eyes narrowed on a smallish billboard, some Ipod one, and fired her arrow. She aimed for the head on the dancing figure, and managed a hit.

Sadly, it wasn't dead center.

"Huh, you need to work on your long ranged sniping." Apollo commented as he lifted his shades to look closer. "You've got pointblank down, but mastery of the mighty art of the bow is determined by how _far_ you can hit a target. Like mwah."

"R-Right." Andi nodded and started to take aim again.

"Tsk. Tsk." Apollo said as he raised his own bow. "Wait your turn."

With that he casually fired off a shot that streaked off into the far distance.

"Sorry, about that Lord Apollo." Andi apologized with a quick bow that Apollo acknowledged with a distracted nod, before she quickly returned her attention to the arrow only to pout as it had disappeared beyond even her enhanced sight.

"Oh! Nice hit, even for me." Apollo crowed as he waved his hand and conjured the image of his arrow jammed into the axle of the front wheels of a kick scooter and a monster of some kind that Andi didn't recognize groaning on the ground next to it.

"Suck on that you loser!"

"Wow!" Andi unabashedly exclaimed at the incredible feat.

"It was no biggie. For me, at least." The god crowed. "But try something a little closer in your next shot. You're not up to my level."

"I don't think I'll ever be in this lifetime."

"Too true." Apollo agreed. "Not ever. I'm the _god_ of archery after all."

Andi's pride stung at that. A part of her wanted to protest, but she squashed it. She knew he was right.

Still, it didn't mean she couldn't be the best demigoddess archer around. That's a fine goal to strive for.

"You gonna take your shot?" Apollo asked with an amused smile.

"Oh! Right." Andi gave him a firm nod and took aim. "What do we got going on?"

"Hmm…" Apollo looked to the horizons consideringly. "There! That cyclops over to the North. He's just about outside your range, so it'll be a good test of your skill."

For a moment Andi worried about whether the cyclops in question was evil or one of the friendly ones like Tyson. She was also worried that it might be one of Uncle Poseidon's kids. She didn't want to upset him if she could avoid it.

But with Apollo right next to her, she didn't have a choice. Raising Skyline, she took aim and let her arrow fly.

"Good shot." Apollo congratulated with a luminous smile. "Fatal shot to the centre mass, even if you missed the heart you were aiming for."

Andi felt bad, she'd give her uncle another offering to make it up to him if the cyclops was one of his own.

"No need to worry about that." Apollo assured her. "That was a hyperborean cyclops, not related to Uncle P at all. You didn't think I would be mean enough to get you in trouble with him, do you?"

"No, just, I ran into a camp of friendly monsters. It changed my perspective a bit on how I view them."

"Oh! Azeios and his crew?" Apollo noted with a smile. "Don't worry, he's a pal. I wouldn't shoot his people or get someone else to do it." He then added in a mumble. "Zeus wouldn't like it either."

Shaking his head, the god of archery continued with a critique of Andi's technique. "When dealing with moving targets you need to anticipate where they'll be a little better. Just look at your last shot. You're hitting them but not where you want to. Plus, relax a little. Like I said earlier, don't take every shot like it's the end of the world, you'll wear yourself out."

"Thanks, Lord Apollo." Andi said genuinely. "I'm just nervous is all. I'll try to relax."

"Exactly! You gotta be chill like me. Go surfing, makes you mellow brah." Apollo grinned as he held up a hang loose sign. Or at least, Andi assumed that was what it was.

"The sea isn't my thing." Andi offered as respectfully as she could.

"Air surfing?"

The daughter of Zeus hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath and confessing something she'd been trying to avoid for a long while, even from herself. "I'm afraid to fly solo. Plus high altitudes in general, they make me kinda nervous nowadays."

He clapped her reassuringly on the back, making her lose her footing before he steadied her by grabbing her arm. "Don't get too hung up on it, you've got a lifetime to get over it! You won't know till you try."

He winked at her and Andi did feel a bit reassured by what he'd said.

 _Was he making a prophecy?_

"No comment." The god said with a shrug.

 _Oh great, now he's being cryptic._

"Of course I am, it's half the fun." The god of prophecies admitted. "But just a reminder: restraint."

 _Uh, should I just speak out loud? Or, I don't know. Your shot?_ Andi offered him as she sat down and buckled up again.

"Nah, don't speak out loud. You need the practice policing your thoughts." Apollo replied even as he raised his bow.

 _Roger dodger._

"Oh, oh!" Apollo grinned broadly as he pointed forward. "Look who it is!"

Andi narrowed her gaze to look at the direction he was pointing. "Hermes?"

The messenger god was flying through the skies some ways ahead of them. He was wearing a flight suit with his caduceus in hand and his winged shoes flapping at such crazy speeds that they sounded like a jet engine.

"I'm going to shoot him." The sun god snickered. "Right up the butt!"

"I-Isn't that mean though?" Andi couldn't help but ask. Plus, that sounded _very_ painful.

"First off, never tell a god that. I might not mind, but others might." Apollo said as he released his shot, which flew through the air unerringly and hit the other god right up his anus.

"AHH! YOU SPRAY-ON TAN DICK!"

Apollo only cackled in glee, and flipped the other god the bird as the sun sped past him. Once he was out of sight, the sun god turned back to Andi and continued with his lecture.

"Second, I do believe I win our little game."

Andi blinked in confusion, she hadn't realized they were even competing.

Ignoring her befuddlement, Apollo continued with a sly smirk. "Besides, Hermes likes it in the butt."

 _What's that even mean?_

"Yaoi Andi, yaoi."

She cocked her head. "What's yaoi?"

"I could tell you for hours, but we don't have time for that." Apollo grinned at her.

 _Isn't that what Aphrodite said about that yuri thing?_

Shaking these thoughts away for now, the demigod shifted nervously as she asked. "He's not going to take this out on me right? I've already got a long list of divine haters on me right now."

"No no, Hermes is a good sport." Apollo reassured her with a mischievous smile.

"If you say so." Andi took his words to heart.

"Ah, I'm such a good teacher!" The sun god boasted proudly. "See? You're already taking how gods might take offense to your actions into consideration."

"I'm trying at least, but someti-"

"Well keep it up!"

"I will. Just wish it helped me a little more lately." Andi said with a sigh as she thought of all the crap that got piled on her recently.

"You mean what happened at the goblin bank?"

"Yu-" Andi began, only to realize her manners were slipping and quickly correcting herself with a more formal, "Yes, Lord Apollo."

"Well don't sweat it. No god messed with you that time. That screw up was entirely your own train wreck."

 _It's not comforting that I messed up that badly all on my own!_

"Hey, at least that means no one was pissed enough at that time to mess with you."

"I guess that's something?" Andi asked uncertainly.

"You've gotta take what you get when it comes to us gods, kid. Though that said, you should be more respectful to Hecate. She _is_ your boss." Apollo said as he started to veer left. "Your disrespect towards her has been floating around."

Andi shrunk in her seat at that tidbit.

"Yeah, you should feel uneasy." Apollo warned. "It's not helping your case with the other gods. Not one bit."

Andi nearly rubbed her face in frustration, but refrained. She didn't want to look like a whiny brat in front of Apollo.

"I know I messed up with Lady Hecate." Andi admitted. "I can't change the past, so I'll just have to ty my best to make amends form here on out."

In return, she got a beaming smile from the god and a wink.

By now, Andi had figured out that the sun god was taking it upon himself to teach her how to keep her manners when dealing with the gods. Going as far as to be her 'safe' godly partner in this sense to practice with. Basically, he'd turned the archery lesson into one that was as much about teaching her restraint when dealing with the gods as it was about her skill with the bow.

"Hey, thank you very much, Lord Apollo. I mean it." Andi said, offering her sincere thanks for what he was doing for her.

Apollo waved it off as they started flying back to Scotland.

She hoped that didn't mean the sun was going backwards.

"No worries, it's the least I can do. I mean, not to brag, but like I said, I'm an amazing teacher. Just look at Chiron! My best and brightest!"

That was holy gospel alright.

"Now," he looked at her with a grin, "give me the dirt on you and my boy Will. Is he going the slow route? Or have you gone to second base already? Because you kids these days are just all over each other. I totally approve by the way. He's a good kisser like his handsome daddy right? Spill the dets!"

Andi could only blush and stammer at all his questions aimed at her relationship with Will.

* * *

It was few days after her ride with Apollo, and Andi was trying her best to erase the last thirty minutes of the ride from her mind. Seriously, he told her things the daughter of Zeus didn't need to know!

Either about her own anatomy or of her boyfriend's!

She'd learned things she _never_ wanted to know. Things no normal girl should know. Like how if a couple pressed the right pressure points in just the right way at the right time, they could gain temporary telepathy and enter into a mind meld.

The thought of baring more than just her body during an intimate encounter brought a heated flush to her face.

Apparently it led to the best climaxes ever.

After learning all that, it was _very_ hard to look at Will in an I.M. right now.

The slamming of a book in front of her made Andi jump in her seat. "I didn't do it!"

Ida raised a brow at her. "I asked if you were paying attention. Clearly, you were not."

Andi ducked her head. "Sorry, just rememberings things."

Highly inappropriate things, gah! Focus Andi!

Ida looked ready to chide her, she was wearing her best lecture face right now. Before the nymph could get a word out however, a series of heavy knocks rained on the door to their suite.

Both females looked to the door in surprise.

"Expecting anyone?" Ida asked.

Andi just shook her head.

While both the demigod and mountain nymph pondered who could be at the door, Wendy took it upon herself to remember her manners and moved to answer it.

She was rewarded for this with the dubious honor of being shoved to the side by a frantic Dumbledore as he rushed into the room.

"Andi! There's been a situation that I need to urgently speak to you about."

* * *

In a burst of flames, Fawkes deposited Andi, Wendy and Dumbledore in the street in front of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. The party found themselves greeted by a row of grimy unwelcoming houses, some with broken windows that glimmered dully in the light from the streetlamps. Paint was peeling from many of the doors, and heaps of rubbish lay outside several sets of front steps. All in all, it painted a terrible picture.

Looking at the sight, Andi couldn't help but wonder, as she had every time she'd visited, how the supposedly wealthy Blacks would stoop to living in what was clearly an impoverished muggle neighborhood and whether the fact they did said something about them that they were trying to avoid.

Dumbledore either didn't notice or didn't care, instead he examined Number Twelve intensely. All while sporting the same frazzled air he'd been wearing since he'd burst into her suite declaring that something had happened to Sirius at Grimmauld Place and asking for Andi to go with him to check up on her godfather.

Upon hearing that, Andi hadn't hesitated. She'd been worried about Sirius for days now. Ever since the fiasco at the bank, she'd been trying to arrange a visit with Sirius to deal with the final Horcrux hidden in his house, but he had been strangely hesitant. In fact his whole demeanor had been odd lately. He'd been writing less and prone to rambling about the strangest things. Andi had honestly been worried he'd suffered a relapse of whatever mental problems he'd gotten from his trip to Azkaban.

So after easily getting permission from Ida, Andi had immediately followed with Wendy in tow as the Headmaster called on Fawkes to transport them to London.

"Something is definitely amiss here."

Dumbledore's sudden statement startled the daughter of Zeus out of her thoughts and she could only reply with a confused, "Huh?"

"The house seems to be radiating strange magic. A kind I do not recognize." Dumbledore explained with a pensive look. "Add to that the fact that Fawkes should have flamed us directly into the house and-"

He was interrupted by a defensive sounding trill from Fawkes.

"He says that it's too dangerous to just flame in there." Wendy wrinkled her nose. "The whole place smells of wicked magic. If we had went in blind, who knows what we'd be facing."

At the mention of dark magic, both Andi and Dumbledore exchanged worried looks.

 _Not good, this is really not good._ Andi bit her bottom lip in worry. _Is this because of the Horcrux? Shite! Please don't let it be._

"We must hurry." The aged wizard said as he walked with surprising speed towards Number Twelve. "Sirius seemed quite desperate for aid before he was cut off"

The demigod nodded even as she matched his pace and marched up the steps. She reached for the doorknob but before she could even touch the brass, the old door opened eerily on it's own.

"And that's not creepy." Andi couldn't help but remark to cover her own strained nerves. This was feeling more and more like one of those horror movies they showed at Camp.

She'd never liked them and now it looked like she was about to star in one.

 _Oh joy!_

"They aren't that bad." Wendy replied verbally, having gotten the gist of her thoughts from their bond. "Though, it _is_ a little creepy how close things are to those movies."

"Tell me about it." The older girl replied, uneasy over the whole situation.

Still, Andi squashed it and followed as Dumbledore walked through the door. They were greeted by pitch black darkness, the opened door and Fawkes' faint natural glow combined to create a sliver of light that was the only source of illumination.

"It's two in the afternoon, it shouldn't be this dark." Andi frowned, her eyes trying to pierce the darkness, just waiting for something to leap out at her. "Even if it was, the gas lamps would at least be going off."

What she wouldn't have for Bianca and Nico to be here. Their superhuman night vision would be a great help, letting her have an idea what was awaiting her in the shadows. That would at the very least lend a hand at fighting the sense of foreboding that Andi was feeling right now.

Still suppressing her nerves, Andi and the others walked further into the darkened entryway of the house. Wendy in the rear had only just crossed the house's threshold when it slammed shut with a bang that echoed in the entryway. With light from the outside cut off, the quartet was covered in near total darkness, save for the dim glow Fawkes gave off.

"Horror flick it is then." Andi affirmed as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Wary of unseen dangers, she kept her guard up. Acting casual she grabbed hold of Skyline, ready to summon her weapon at any time.

As her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, her attention was caught by a familiar pair of glowing red eyes. _Where have I seen those before? I don't think that it's that creepy house elf, they're too tiny. Horcrux in the house… Double shite! Voldemort._

"Who's there?" Dumbledore called out as he levelled a stern glare at the crimson gaze, drew his wand and flicked it. The spell sent motes of light that peppered the entryway, at last giving them their first clear view of their surroundings.

It revealed Kreacher, who for some reason was floating in the air, to be the source of the red eyes.

"Kreacher?"

"That's not Kreacher, Headmaster." Andi swiftly said, summoning her bow, nocked a couple wind arrows and took aim at the possessed elf.

The creepy little thing was unfazed and just gave a wicked grin as his beady little red eyes narrowed in some way that somehow made it more sinister.

" **Welcome to my new abode, my two least favorite people. Pardon the...mess. Ah, but where are my manners! Refreshments?"**

Ah, there was something Andi was familiar with. The creepy voice that Voldemort had.

Try hard much?

She would have given a retort, but something cutting through the air forced her to change her words.

"Incoming!" Andi cried out and raised her hand to summon a wall of wind, but Dumbledore hastily stepped in front of her.

He swiped his wand through the air and a hasty protego shimmered into being in front of them. Just in time to protect them from a barrage of tableware and food that began pelting the shield with surprising force.

"Andi, I'll shield us. You attack."

The demigod snorted at the unnecessary save and instructions, even as she did what the old man had told her to.

 _Like you need to tell me that._ Andi thought dismissively as she levelled her bow at the elf once more.

Knowing the elf was just a hapless puppet to the Horcrux, Andi didn't want to kill him if she could help it. As such, instead of immediately letting loose with her arrows, she took a moment to quickly examine the elf. Except for his glowing eyes, he looked just like the scant few times that Andi had run into him. The only other thing that looked out of the ordinary was the fancy locket around his neck. Not only was it far too expensive looking to be something a house elf would wear, more importantly it gave off an ominous vibe.

 _That's gotta be the Horcrux_.

"Let's end this, you meanie face."

Without waiting for the Horcrux to react to her taunt, Wendy called on her powers. Her hair flickered as a rush of hot air started to emanate from her and flames licked at her fingertips. Combining her two elements together, she sent a small flaming twister spinning towards the possessed elf.

Looking unperturbed by the elemental attack, the possessed elf merely snapped its fingers and conjured a burst of force that collided with the twister and dispersed it in a loud boom.

Kreacher seemed to have underestimated the power that would be unleashed by the meeting of the two powerful attacks and was sent stumbling back in the air.

Capitalizing on the opening, Andi loosed her wind arrow and sent it whistling towards the locket's chain as it rested against the cusp of the elf's neck.

Despite its disorientation however, the soul fragment recovered in time and with another snap of its possessed fingers sent another blast of magic to defend itself. It collided with the arrow and unleashed an explosion of force that sent dust and broken tableware flying everywhere.

Undeterred by the failure of her first shot, the demigod drew another arrow.

" **Shame, this is what I get for being such a grand host? Pity. You're just like my last guest. Though, at least there's less howling."**

Dumbledore gave a small gasp, as if he had finally recognized the speech pattern and figured out who they were dealing with. "Voldemort?"

The elf gave a vicious smirk and nodded its head.

Before Andi could get off her next shot, the entryway rumbled and shifted.

Wendy cried out and grabbed onto Andi as the entryway began to spin in every which direction. It was like being inside of some Rubix Cube. The hallway had suddenly started spinning haphazardly in every direction and rooms began connecting to either end of it.

Acting quickly Andi quickly transformed Skyline back into its disguised form and clipped it safely onto her clothes even as she lunged to grab hold of Wendy just as the Aura and Dumbledore lost their footing. Soon all three of them were sliding all over the place. Back, forth, and sideways, gods they even hit the ceiling a few times.

Andi clung to Wendy, keeping a grip on her so they couldn't be separated like they'd lost Dumbledore. The old man had disappeared almost immediately through a doorway once the room started going crazy.

The little Aura clung to her as well.

"Wendy, Storm Mail!"

Wendy began to transform into wind but this didn't seem to sit well with their malicious host. **"Tut Tut. Get a clue, Potter. This isn't supposed to be a team event."**

With that mocking statement the room began to shift even more violently than ever before and large bulky furniture was added into the mix. One particularly large sofa smacked right into them and separated them before Wendy could complete her transformation into the Storm Mail.

"Andi!" Wendy shouted as she slid down an expanded toilet of all things.

"Son of a-" Andi couldn't even curse as she fell through a lit fireplace, getting a few burns in the process and coming out of a chimney on the other end.

Hissing, Andi looked at the angry red spots on her skin. "I'll get Wendy to help with these later."

Shaking off the stinging pain from the burns and bruises from the repeated impacts that the shifting entryway had left her with, the demigod examined her surroundings.

This room was dark as pitch and she couldn't see a thing. Not wanting anymore surprises to catch her unawares, she summoned Skyline in its sword form to provide some light. Faint though it was, it proved enough to let her make out a bedroom. The walls oozed black sludge and the framed pictures near her on the nightstand didn't move, Andi couldn't blame them. The eyes of the people in them had been cut out and their bodies twisted into tortured poses.

"Great, all we need is the ceiling to start bleeding." Andi groaned and felt a drop of something hit her cheek. Her free hand reached up to touch whatever it was. Pulling back her hand to examine it, she was a little disturbed to see a dark red color. She looked up to see a stained ceiling that occasionally dripped on her. "I was being rhetorical!"

The sudden question of _whose_ blood it was popped into her head.

"Alright, am I in a horror flick or something?" She asked herself as she stood up, her sword held ready. All the while the blood continued to drip down on her. "There were rules or something, I know Will told me that. Aw, it's probably just rubbish anyway."

Cautiously she walked towards the room's only door, which swung open on its own accord. Taking this in stride, after all she was apparently stuck in Voldemort's version of a haunted house, she walked out of the room and into a hall whose walls were lined by rows of old paintings. Only to have the room's door abruptly snap shut behind her. Spinning around, she was just in time to see it disappear as if it had never existed.

A soft, tortured groan had the demigod turning back around, only to come face to face with a disgusting sight. The paintings along the walls, with their tormented, eyeless subjects were coming to life. But they weren't just animating in their frames. Oh no! It was worse than that. Much worse.

Before her eyes they were being twisted into monstrous creatures. A pair of lanky two metre arms started growing out of either side of their frames and a pair of large elephant like legs followed suit out of the bottom. The flesh of these new limbs looked downright cadaverous, but that wasn't what made them unsettling. That honor went to the tortured forms of the paintings' subjects who seemed trapped in some kind of unknown torment as they writhed and screamed in incoherent agony.

Well, most of them did.

"Filthy blood in my home!" A female voice wailed.

The shrill voice made Andi wince and she could only think of one person, or painting, that had a voice like that.

 _I thought Sirius had gotten rid of his mother's bitchy painting?_

Seems he failed in that regard.

 _I don't think I'd wish whatever is happening to these paintings to anyone. Even her. It looks awful._

Andi's musings were cut short when the paintings began to use their new limbs to pry themselves free from the walls and lunge at her.

The demigod felt she handled the situation well.

"What the flaming shite!" The demigod shouted as she jumped out of the way of an unsteady lunge by the thing directly in front of her and slashing it in half with Skyline. "Did Voldemort binge a bunch of horror movies or something?!"

Her only answer were tormented moans and screams as the monstrous paintings advanced on her like a zombie horde.

"If these are your version of zombies, Tom, then I'm severely disappointed." Andi quipped even as she dived under the four reaching arms of the nearest painting creature and cut it to pieces.

Wind picked up around her blade as she launched an arc of air, cutting three paintings to ribbons and freeing them from their pained existence.

Quickly repositioning her blade, Andi switched targets and destroyed what seemed to be a troll dressed as a minstrel.

"Death to the mudblood!" The zombified painting of Sirius' mother - _What's her name again?_ \- shouted as she led a charge of a dozen of her ilk towards the demigod.

 _Ignore her. Ignore her. Just free her and be done with it._ Andi repeatedly told herself, even as her annoyance with the painting of Sirius' mother grew with each insult.

"Dirty, rotten-!"

Sirius' mother was silenced as the daughter of Zeus sent a wave of wind flying down the hallway. The blast of air bowled the charging creatures over and sent them colliding into one another, turning the whole group of them into a twitching heap of grotesque mutated flesh.

Skyline hissed and spat as winds twisted around the blade and Andi raised it up above her head. With a powerful swing, she sent a large arc of air that sliced through the pile, reducing it into shredded canvas, broken frames and mutilated corpse like flesh.

"Be at peace." Andi murmured to herself as she offered the remains of the paintings a ritual blessing.

That done, the witch moved on. As she did, she tried to call out to Wendy several times. It all amounted to bupkis.

 _This whole link thing is far too one-sided._ Andi huffed in frustration as she turned the corner, and ended up in a hall whose walls were lined with stuffed house elf heads. _Ah, the next trap...so blow darts or snakes are going to slither out their mouths any second._

Taking another glance around the hallway, she raised her hand to prepare to send a pair of lances of air to destroy the heads all in one go. She never managed to get her attack off though, before the very elaborate mounted house elf heads complete with plaques bearing the dead elves' names, came back to life and began to spit fireballs at her!

"Come on!" Andi complained as she jumped and ducked under the fireballs. She threw her hand to her left, a wall of wind blocking one she couldn't evade.

The resulting explosion sent her stumbling and leaving her open to a sustained barrage. Reacting instinctively, she summoned a cocoon of air around herself that kept her safe.

Her brow started to sweat as she kept the barrier up under the fiery pressure. Despite that, Andi kept up a rapid pace as she walked as fast as she could down the hallway, rattling from each blast.

Spotting the turn of the hallway, Andi picked up the pace and stumbled forward as a group of fireballs smacked the rear of her wind cocoon. Thankfully, the force of the barrage pushed her towards the end of the hallway and the demigod leapt to safety around the corner.

With no more fireballs plaguing her, the witch released a sigh of relief. She got to her feet quickly though, glancing at this new hallway and what new traps were set up this time.

There was nothing in the hallway whatsoever.

 _Why does this unnerve me worse than fireball launching mounted stuffed heads?_

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Andi told herself and began to concentrate. Vapor started to collect and turn into a mass of cloud. Smirking, the demigod shaped it into a somewhat clumpy likeness of herself.

Directing it to walk down the hallway, Andi beamed as her idea worked. As soon as the cloud clone began walking down the hallway, the wallpaper started to peel itself from the walls in long tentacle-like strips and attacked it, wrapping around its limbs and pulling it apart easily.

After nothing was left in the hallway, the paper returned to its proper place on the walls.

"Tentacle wallpaper, riveting." Andi pursed her lips. Raising her hand, winds hissed around it and coiled into a twister. Firing the construct of air that she'd created, a vertical twister traveled down the hallway scouring the murderous wallpaper right off the walls.

With the walls now bare of all paper and the threat dealt with, the demigod smirked. "One for Team Andi."

She started to walk down the newly barren hallway now, but she just had gotten a few feet in when a rattling tickled her ears that set off her instincts. Heeding her gut, she quickly jumped forward. Just in time too, because the walls behind her had suddenly jutted forward and smacked together.

 _He really enjoys playing with me, doesn't he?_ Andi couldn't help but lament, but quickly steeled herself. "Alright, just like Camp, nothing too hard."

Pumping herself up, Andi broke into a sprint.

The floor wobbled and abruptly shot up to the ceiling forcing Andi to leap forward once again to avoid being crushed. She quickly tumbled forward as the walls around her tried to crush her. Her hearing picked up on the ceiling coming down on her so she got to her feet. She poured on the speed, even then she could tell she wouldn't make it. Acting quickly, she fired off a blast of air behind her that launched her forward like a rocket.

Even with that move, she barely made it to the end of the hallway where she slammed into the wall of the corner. Thankfully, it seemed she was safe for the moment as everything had suddenly stopped trying to crush her. The demigod was pleased, it looked like all those hours on the Climbing Wall at Camp had paid off.

Compared to _that_ particular death trap, this was on easy mode.

She smirked at that. _Let's hope Voldemort continues to underestimate me._

The daughter of Zeus was about to continue her trek through the deadly house when she suddenly felt a tingle in the back of her mind. Andi didn't really get it, but she somehow just knew that it meant that Wendy was on her way.

Deciding to make her partner's life easier and take a break at the same time, she stopped to wait for the Aura to catch up.

"Andi!" Wendy called out, making the demigod look up. A wisp of air touched the ground and Wendy appeared in front of Andi. The Aura immediately pulled Andi into a hug. "Thank the gods! I was so worried."

"How'd you find me so fast?" Andi asked as she gave a soft hug back.

"Oh, that's easy. Our bond lets me track where you are, remember? Of course, I had to turn into a breeze to get past all those nasty looking traps. He had exploding fruit bowls!"

The little Aura shivered at this.

Andi sighed. "We'll talk about the explosive fruits later. And how we can amp up this bond of ours because I feel like I'm getting the short end."

Wendy was about to retort, but was cut off by Voldemort's voice echoing from the walls.

" **You always were amusing, Potter. I'm intrigued by how you managed to force an Aura to be your familiar. I was under the impression you already had one in the form of an owl."**

The daughter of Zeus scowled at the nearest wall. "She's not my familiar. She's my _friend_. Oh wait, you don't know what that word means. Sorry Tom!"

The walls were silent and Andi felt pleased with herself. She glanced at Wendy and said. "Mail up. We're not getting separated again."

"Thank goodness." Wendy happily obliged and turned into their Storm Mail.

"So, what other traps did you see?" Andi asked as they rounded another corner -It was starting to look like she was walking around in circles- noting that it was flanked on either side by suits of armor.

Andi blasted them to scrap with a pair of Air Hammers without a second thought the moment they started to twitch.

" _Nothing major. The staircase flattened out when I went upstairs, also found the bathroom. Blood was coming out of the taps and everything. It was odd though since it was writhing and stuff, almost like it was alive."_

"Oh so that's why the ceiling was dripping blood." Andi nodded in understanding as they found the stairs, which were indeed flattened. "Let's go find the Headmaster, I'm sure he's worried."

Andi floated down the stairs. The railing ripped itself off its fittings and became a centipede like creature that tried to smack her with its heavy wooden legs, but protected by her Mail Andi barely felt a thing and quickly reduced it to kindling.

" _Andi, can we not go to anymore haunted houses after this. Please?"_

 _I can only promise to try._ Andi thought back to her.

" _I'll take what I can get."_

When the pair touched down on the floor, the floorboards creaked and split open. Vermin, looking sick and twisted, spilled out and swarmed the demigod.

Andi felt like she was back under Blac-Bloody Lake again for a brief moment, but quickly shaking it off, she waved her arm. A gale flew from her swipe and sent the swarm of pests slamming into the walls in a shower of gore.

Looking at the viscera seeping into the broken floorboards, the daughter of Zeus couldn't help but relive the guilt over the event that led to the lake's change. The swarm was a little too similar to the massive schools of fish that the lake's crazed naiad had attacked her with during the Second Task.

Troubled, her arm limply fell back to her side.

" _Andi, it's okay. You have to focus."_ A worried Wendy encouraged.

 _Right, sorry._ Andi offered apologetically. _Head's in the game, I swear._

" _If you say so- Is that a door?"_

Andi blinked in surprise as she spotted the same thing. So far they had been walking through nothing but trapped hallways, without a single adjoining room.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

" _Because it's almost certainly an especially dangerous trap?"_

"Probably." Andi said even as she forced out a nervous smirk. "Well, let's get this over with and spring it."

" _Let's."_ Wendy replied with equal enthusiasm, that is to say, none at all.

Cautiously, the partners approached the door which swung open on its own. Steeling themselves, they walked in, unfazed as the door disappeared behind them.

" _Hey, a person!"_ Wendy observed warily as they surveyed what Andi recognized was the drawing room.

 _That's Lupin!_ Andi noted worriedly as she recalled what Voldemort said earlier about a howling visitor.

The werewolf looked deathly pale, and terribly thin. Even more so than in the aftermath of a full moon. His clothes were a torn mess that amounted to nothing more than rags. He was pacing the drawing room like he was possessed, twitching here and there and his eyes were feral and bloodshot. Only becoming more so as he spotted her and they turned to look at her with inhuman intensity.

"...Professor." Andi said as calmly as possible, not wanting to spook the man.

Her only response was an animalistic snarl and Andi knew this wasn't going to be a happy reunion. Without warning, he lunged at her, his body distorting violently.

"Whoa!" Andi exclaimed as she ducked under him, making the man collide with a chair, toppling it and him. He howled as his mass grew and tuffs of grey fur began to sprout as he changed into a werewolf.

"No." Andi told him sternly while pointing. "Change back into a human, right now! It's not even a full-moon! I checked!"

Lupin didn't seem to care as he tried to swipe at her with his diseased claws.

The demigod flew towards the ceiling, sticking to it so as to avoid having to fight the lycanthrope.

"Tom, do me a favor and suck a fat chub!" Andi shouted, making Wendy gasp at her vocabulary. "Not the time, Wendy. Lupin, stay there or so help me…"

Her lingering threat fell on deaf ears as he jumped up at her, but Andi just shot through the air to a different end of the room. "I swear this stuff only happens to me. A werewolf I don't want to kill, great!"

She moved to another part of the ceiling as he leapt at her again, missing and falling through a table. He snarled at her and pushed himself up, his body transforming even further. His already lanky arms growing even more so and his claws growing into half foot long talons.

Using his newly deformed appendages, Lupin leapt onto the ceiling and stuck there. His talons digging into the surface as he crawled towards Andi with a hungry look in his eyes.

"...Yeah, I just threw up a little in my mouth." Andi looked sick at the display and whipped her hand forward, tethers of wind rope launching themselves at the former teacher turned beast.

The mutated werewolf just responded by puffing up a newly grown frog like throat sac that quickly filled with a unsettling crimson glow before emptying it by spitting its contents at the incoming ropes. These contents took the form of what looked like orbs of blood.

Even then, the changes didn't stop and glowing red veins began to pulse across his abused body as more and more mangy fur sprouted from his skin.

Right before her eyes, the usually kindly Lupin was being transformed into a twisted black and red monster. Looking on helplessly, Andi could only horrifically wonder what magic could overload lycanthropy and do something like this.

" _I hope Lycaon never finds out about this."_ Wendy whimpered at the vile sight, causing the Storm Mail to shudder.

Crouching down like a jumping spider, Lupin leapt across the room at Andi, his claws outstretched and ready to rend her to shreds.

Andi kept doing what she had been, jumping out of the way and passed him in midair. Just as they passed one another, his head twisted in a near one eighty, and he spat a stream of wicked blood balls at her.

Not for the first time Andi thanked the gods that she had the Storm Mail as it protected her from whatever terrible thing the blood would have done to her if they had hit.

As they both landed on opposite sides of the room and in reverse of their previous positions, Andi's little trap activated. A surge of wind ropes erupted from the wall he'd landed on and wrapped around his body. He tried to struggle, but in spite of his obvious superhuman strength, his limbs were soon bound to the wall leaving him with nothing to do but snarl at her.

Or at least that's what Andi wished was the case, instead his body continued to deform. With his existing limbs pinned, whatever was controlling his curse was growing whole new ones. Dozens of new twisted limbs of raw flesh and bloody fur grew out of his body trying to get him back into the fight. Some were passably humanoid but others were things more suited to bugs and ended in wicked sharp blades. By Tartarus, there were even a couple of disgusting looking tentacles growing out of his face!

"Yeah, no, bedtime Fido." Andi told him, tired of this song and dance as she conjured more ropes to bind him. More and more wind buried the now helpless werewolf, encasing him in a literal cocoon of wind twine.

" _Wow, you've been really practicing that one."_

"What can I say, I know the ropes." Andi cheekily replied as she landed and slowly advanced to her captive.

" _...You've been writing to Percy too much."_

"Probably." Andi couldn't help but agree, but it was nice to occasionally pen Percy.

Even as the daughter of Zeus was chatting with Wendy, she was concentrating on the air inside the cocoon, steadily depriving the former professor of oxygen until his thrashing ceased as he lost consciousness due to asphyxiation.

With him down for the count, Andi breathed a sigh of relief and stopped suffocating him. She didn't release him from his bonds though, just in case. She wasn't going to take risks, not when they were still very much behind enemy lines.

"Ok, now what?" Andi muttered to herself as _that_ realization sank in.

" _We could go around wrecking the place like we did on Othrys."_ Wendy suggested helpfully.

"I don't think my godfather would appreciate me tearing his house apart."

Any further discussion was shelved when a burst of flames erupted in the center of the room. Startled, Andi tensed, ready to slaughter whatever appeared. Luckily for Dumbledore she had enough sense to stay her hand just long enough to recognize him.

Looking at the twister covered demigod, the elderly wizard sighed in relief. "Andi, thank Merlin. I feared the worse."

Andi tried not to roll her eyes. "I can handle myself just fine, I'd rather know what took you so long since you had Fawkes with you."

"I would have come sooner, but I couldn't pinpoint where you were." Dumbledore explained with an apologetic sigh. "The only reason I was able to get here now was because I had Fawkes zero in on your magic as you fought whatever hurdle Voldemort had set up in this room."

 _More like followed my scent._

It were times like this that having a strong scent due to her heritage came in handy.

" _It doesn't work that way, Andi."_ Wendy chimed in. _"Fawkes isn't a monster, he can't smell your demigod scent at all."_

 _Alright, I get it. Not all Phoenixes are monsters._ Andi pointed to the wrapped up Lupin. "He messed with Lupin, overloaded his curse somehow. Forced him to transform without a bloody full moon. Even pushed the transformation way beyond what it normally does. What the hell, Voldemort should not be this powerful."

Dumbledore looked at the cocoon of air that kept Lupin restrained.

"I had heard that Voldemort had some means to torture his werewolf followers by affecting their curse, but not to this extent."

"Yeah, he's a real charmer." Andi snarked in distaste, before pointing to the bound and unconscious former Hogwarts Professor. "I'm keeping Lupin like that. Just in case. Gods know what else he can do if he was freed."

"That's a good idea." Dumbledore conceded.

"By the way, Headmaster, any clue how Voldemort's Horcrux has turned the house into the Room of Requirement, but turned all evil and super creepy? Like some kind of House of Horrors remake?"

Dumbledore looked at Andi in surprise, "You know this is the result of a Horcrux?"

"Yes," Andi hedged, quickly realizing that she needed to avoid setting off Dumbledore's alarm bells. "I learnt about it in my studies. I think this might fit the bill. Am I right?"

"Yes, it is. And as for why it's this powerful? I'd theorize it's taken over the house entirely and is using all the magic that it has soaked up over the years to do all this." Dumbledore concluded, gesturing at the trapped form of Lupin lying unconscious at their feet.

" **That's enough of a break I think."** Voldemort's twisted voice echoed from all around them. **"Time for Round Two!"**

At his declaration, the room began to shift and rotate once again, disorienting them as they bounced about. Andi was thankfully protected while Dumbledore cast some form of bubble around himself.

"Again, suck a fat one Tom!"

The shifting rooms didn't last for long this time though as instead everything around them just abruptly faded to absolute nothingness. Andi was just beginning to panic when reality suddenly reasserted itself and they found themselves in the dining room that was laid out as if to receive a great many guests, including a large collection of food.

Unfortunately, all of it was rotten.

At the head of the table was a possessed Sirius and Kreacher, the owner of the house eating the rancid food as if it were a regular meal.

"Voldemort, release them at once!" Dumbledore demanded as he levelled his wand at the possessed individuals, energy crackling from the old piece of wood.

" **I think not."** Voldemort replied even as he laughed and clapped.

At that, all the china and cutlery laid out in the room come to life and attacked the good guys. Forks, spoons and knives flew at them like homing missiles. Plates, cups and bowls did likewise, and even the shards of shattered crockery that formed after Andi and Dumbledore battered them away leapt back into the air after a moment to try to impale them. Worse though were the teapots that flew into the air and tried to pour their seemingly limitless scalding hot contents on them.

Even as Andi and Dumbledore were busy fending off the animated kitchenware, Voldemort laughed again and snapped his fingers. This caused a swarm of bugs to explode out of the rotten food and surge towards the wizard and demigod.

Still not done, Voldemort turned to Sirius who was still shoveling spoiled food down his throat and snapped his fingers a second time.

Immediately, Sirius shot to his feet and rigidly turned to face them with his wand pointed directly at them. **"Confringo!"**

A jet of fiery orange flew towards them. Seeing this, Andi fired an Air Hammer at it and got it right on the nose as the spell exploded into a curtain of fire that washed over the table and rotten food.

The explosion was powerful enough to throw both Andi and Dumbledore off the game for a moment, and both of them was caught off guard as the mind controlled Lord Black cast his next spell.

" **Bombarda Maxima!"**

A the white light shot from his wand, Andi once again launched an Air Hammer to erupt the spell in mid air but missed entirely, as her aim was thrown completely off by a swarm of flies getting right into her face and blocking her view.

Thankfully Dumbledore was on the case and he quickly non-verbally fired off some kind of counter curse that caused the spell to fizzle out while still in flight.

Sirius was undeterred however and fired off a **"Bombarda!"**

There was no beam of light to intercept this time and the floor next to Andi just spontaneously exploded, sending her stumbling back with a yelp.

"Son of a bitch." Hissing at the small blast, the demigod was displeased and swung her blade, a gale raced towards the two possessed victims. Voldemort just smirked and snapped his fingers and countered it with a burst of raw magic.

"What kind of cheating spell is that?" A frustrated Andi complained as she found herself surrounded by another swarm of bugs. The Storm Mail hissed around her, keeping her safe from them but like the fish in the Second Task they blocked her view and made it difficult to attack the heavy hitting enemies.

"Dumbledore, clear the bugs!"

The elderly wizard's only response was to spit fireballs out of his wands, burning the annoying insects to crisps. Without even breaking stride he turned his wand onto the room's walls and floors. Flicking his wand in a subtle gesture, he transfigured the wooden panelling that lined the wall into knight like constructs equipped with broad kite shields.

The things proved their worth when one jumped in front of another of Sirius' blasting curses and was sent flying across the room in splinters. Unfortunately, the rest of them weren't anywhere so helpful. Instead, they just stood frozen as dark vine-like growths began to form on their bodies.

"Headmaster!" Andi shouted in warning, even as the constructs turned on them, the hands on their off arms falling off and transforming the limb into wickedly sharp stakes.

Despite her warning, Dumbledore was caught flat footed as his creations turned on him and did nothing as the one nearest to him moved to stab him. Thankfully, Andi rushed in at dazzling speeds, swiping her blade in a deadly dance and turning it and its wooden brethren into timber. "Stick to fire, let's not give them ammo."

The Headmaster nodded and with a flick of his wand and aided by a burst of fire from Fawkes, sent a powerful wave of fire that swept across the entire room.

The walls were set ablaze and the table was reduced to ash along with everything attacking them. The conflagration didn't stop there however and continued all the way till it threatened to consume both Sirius and Kreacher as well.

Voldemort was not so easily defeated though and Sirius jumped in front of Kreacher.

" **Protego!"**

The shield withstood the flames, though Sirius looked greatly drained by the feat. Taking advantage, Andi struck.

She shifted Skyline into its bow form and fired a barrage of arrows that shattered the weakened shield, even as she flew in for a tackle.

Sirius staggered as his shield broke apart, but Kreacher picked up the slack.

" **Nice try."** The elf said as he snapped his fingers and Andi was knocked off her flight path and right back the way she came.

Gasping in shock and the jarring feeling of suddenly having her momentum completely reversed, Andi was in no position to control her tumble through the air. Wendy was on the ball though and steadied them so she didn't crash into a wall. The demigod glared at the elf who was smugly grinning at her, which left it distracted enough to allow Dumbledore to strike.

"Ha!" The old wizard cried out as he flicked his wand like a whip, a roaring white flame springing from its tip and lanced towards Kreacher.

Voldemort was not defenseless though and Sirius jumped in the way and was struck instead. The intense flame cleaved right through his fragile human body, bisecting him and reducing him into two partially cooked chunks of meat. He didn't even release a scream or a cry, but Andi did.

"NO! SIRIUS!" The demigod shouted in horror, her eyes wide as she flinched at seeing his remains fall to the ground with two thumps.

Dumbledore didn't waste time to mourn though and followed up with a second strike.

Kreacher tried to snap his hand, but the flaming whip was too fast. With a ear splitting crack, it had covered the distance and severed it clean off.

" **GAH! My hand!"** The house elf screamed as it stumbled back in pain. A look of shock overcoming him as he looked at his burnt stump.

Without remorse Dumbledore flicked his wrist for a third time, and without giving the elf any time to do anything, he cleanly took its head off.

As the body hit the floor, the head rolling to the side, the house roiled. The locket, now devoid of a body began to pulse with a dark light that seemed to reach out into the house itself.

"Destroy the locket, Andi! It's the Horcrux!"

" _Quickly!"_ Wendy urged. _"Before it uses the house against us again!"_

Already knowing that, Andi composed herself and shifted her weapon to it's blade form and jumped forward. Skyline's tempered tip sank into the locket with ease, shattering the unholy thing.

A hideous wail came from the broken fragments, making the demigod wince at the sound as everything else drew quiet. Simultaneously, the whole house shuddered and beads of crimson wept from the wall, spilling down towards the floor.

Andi paid it no mind. All her attention was focused on the open eyed Sirius, his face twisted in agony.

* * *

Sitting in the plush chair in Dumbeldore's office with the fire crackling and Fawkes trilling sadly in the background, Andi felt a touch detached from reality.

"Everything has been taken care of." The old wizard told her in a soft voice. "I've ensured that no one will probe too deeply into Sirius' death. All anyone will ever know is that there was a magical mishap."

She nodded to him, uncharacteristically quiet.

Seeing she was not going to verbally respond, he shot Andi a disappointed but understanding look as he continued speaking.

"Sirius' Will was read. He left everything to you."

Her small shoulders slumped at hearing that.

Andi had opted to skip the reading. The mere thought of attending made her stomach churn. It was as if she was happy about being awarded something even though she'd completely failed at her mission to protect the innocent. But it seemed there was no way to avoid that after all.

"I see." Blue eyes cut to the fireplace, finding the crackling flames almost painful to watch as her mind flashbacked to how Sirius died. She looked away, turning back towards Dumbledore. "That was kind of him."

Too kind maybe. Sirius and Andi hadn't known each other that well, they weren't super close. In fact, Andi didn't even really like him at all. She found him a pain at times, especially with how he seemed to want her to be the second coming of James Potter.

Yet, his death had still induced a deep level of guilt within her. She'd failed him, an innocent and a friend no less.

"My dear, do you wish to talk about it?" The Headmaster of Hogwarts asked her in that kindly old man persona of his.

The demigod shook her head. "I'm just processing, I'll be fine."

It was a lie, she just wasn't comfortable enough to talk to Dumbledore about this. After the meeting, she was going to talk to Ida, or maybe I.M. Chiron if he was awake. She'd been talking to them on and off about it over the past few days and it had been a great help so far with dealing with things.

It wouldn't change facts though. Her inaction had indirectly led to a man's death.

It was all because she had procrastinated over the locket. If she had focused on the quest and not let herself get distracted by other things, then an innocent man would still be alive.

The wizened wizard sighed at this.

"How's Lupin?" Andi couldn't help but ask with concern.

Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "Whatever dark magic Voldemort did to him is proving quite resistant. I'm afraid poor Remus isn't responding well to the treatments. As such, he'll be in Saint Mungo's Janey Thickey Ward for those suffering long-term effects of spell damage indefinitely at this point of time."

Andi's stomach roiled at this news. Yet another innocent she had failed and whose life was now ruined.

Hiding her inner turmoil behind a stoic facade, she stood up with a nod. "Thank you. I'll be going to bed now. I'm glad we got the last one."

Her voice held no triumph, all it did was leave a bitter taste in her mouth.

Dumbledore wished her goodnight and she nodded distractedly in reply as she exited his office. Feeling in the mood for a walk she wandered the hallways, taking the long way back to her suite.

For a long time she wallowed in her melancholy but slowly but surely a new flame of determination sparked in her heart.

"Never again, I'll never cause another tragedy because of my mistakes ever again."

Andi had enough for a lifetime after all.

* * *

 **Done and done! Man, we are getting down to the wire! Thanks to the team of Nameless and Axios as always!**

 **I always wanted to see what those lessons would be like if Percy had accepted them from Apollo, so I got my imagination going to Andi and here we are! I think it went along swimmingly and she learned loads from a good sponsor god like Apollo. He's so selfless, yep!**

 **Nameless2210: So Andi was a lot more restrained in the scene with Apollo than she usually is, wasn't she? Well, that's because she's trying to be respectful. In word and action but also in thought. After her recent experiences, she's firmly learned her lesson about being respectful to gods even in her own head. We're undecided if she'll slip up if she's in a particularly stressful situation, like combat. That'll depend on how soon it comes up, it's a lesson she's only just started to internalize after all. Gotta give it time before it's set in stone in her head.**

 **I just want to say that I wrote that last scene from a slightly personal place as my Grandmother had just past, so I figured I should use those emotions when writing the scene. I tried not to make Andi overly hung up on Sirius, as that's how I currently feel, so I reined myself in. Still, it helped me loads just to write things out like that.**

 **Nameless2210: I did mention Andi would be getting a windfall soon, didn't I? Congrats to those who realized that by that I meant Sirius' death. Even if you didn't, I hope you enjoyed this little twist.**

 **Let it go to show, we are not afraid to kill of popular and beloved characters, I mean it. We offed Lupin in Rhode, we killed Snape in Alkaid, what did you people expect of us? We enjoy death maybe a tad too much. XP Nothin much else to talk about, Hermione cameo, Dumbledore got some screen time to show what he's got, felt that was fair of us. Since, we love to point out his flaws so much in our fics. He's an easy target!**

 **Nameless: He totally is. As for Hermione, she will continue to cameo but this is probably the biggest one from now onwards. This was the closure scene for Andi, where she accepted the fact that the bridge between them has been thoroughly burned and is beyond repair. The next time we see her will be through mentions of her by Ron. After all, even if they aren't friends anymore I'd expect both Andi and Ron would still want to keep track of her.**

 **Now, you know what to do! Smash that review button, tell us what you enjoyed most, and remember no flames peace. Peace off my peeps!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter**

 **The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans**

 **Chapter Seventeen: I Go to Wonderland**

 **Beta: ShadowofAxios**

* * *

A few days after her depressing meeting with Dumbledore, Andi was still trying to shake off her guilt over what happened. To that effect, she was busying herself burning the midnight oil doing some studying.

Unfortunately after hours of hitting the books, she was starting to get pretty tired. It was therefore no surprise that one minute Andi was trying to fight off her exhaustion while doing some reading for her English lessons, and the next she found herself in some kind of cave that was filled with mist.

 _Great, I dozed off._ Andi lamented with a groan. _Now I'll have to pick up my reading again tomorrow morning._

"Andromeda." A familiar commanding voice called out from behind her.

Andi turned towards the source of the voice and saw a ten foot tall Hecate, seated imperiously on a throne made up of raw magic and stars.

"Lady Hecate." Andi greeted with a bow, mindful of her recent lessons, and kept speaking in the most humble tone she could manage. "I apologize for taking so long with the quest, my Lady."

The goddess quirked a brow at this, almost in pleasant surprise.

"My my, it seems Apollo's lessons have proven effective where trails and hardships have not." Hecate noted with amusement. "Truly, he is a great teacher."

Andi wisely didn't reply, which earned her another surprised look from her matron.

Seeing that she was failing to get a rise out of the girl, the goddess changed tack and decided to get down to business. "It is as you say, you've _finally_ finished my quest." Andi resisted the urge to wince at this. "Which means that at last you can to attend to the other matter I wanted you to handle for me. A follow up to the last one in fact and one that you will hopefully finish in a more swift fashion."

The 'or else' was unsaid, but nevertheless clear as day.

"What will you have of me, Lady Hecate?"

"Before I inform you, let me make clear that this quest was requested by Hades as well."

Andi gulped nervously at hearing that. It meant this quest was a very big deal.

 _Alright, I gotta get it done fast. Can't disappoint two powerful gods… I've already got enough on my tail as is. On the other hand, if I do well here, I'll gain serious brownie points with them._ Andi thought, even as she fretted over what would happen if she didn't meet their expectations.

"Good to see that you know how important that makes this quest." Hecate said with a pleased nod. "Your quest is simple, end Tom Riddle. Or as the self-important fool likes to style himself, Lord Voldemort, once and for all."

Andi struggled to keep from smiling, she didn't want to act out of turn in front of her boss. It was difficult though, as after everything that the ass had put her through, she couldn't help but feel that this was a long time coming.

"Your chance will be coming soon."

The demigod could read between the lines, so she just nodded. "I won't let him get away."

"See that you don't." Hecate said warningly, even as the dreamscape around them dissolved.

* * *

As a Triwizard Champion, Andi should have been exempt from the end-of-term tests. However, since Andi was being homeschooled by Ida, the best she'd managed was a delay of her final assessments -which weren't always standard tests- till after the Third Task.

This did mean however that on the morning before said Task, when the Champions' families were due to visit, Andi was practically the only person in the Great Hall. There were still a handful of stragglers trying to scarf down a few last bites or frantically doing some last minute revision, but most everyone had filed off to sit their papers.

In contrast, Andi was taking her own sweet time having a proper breakfast alongside Wendy and Ida. The latter usually didn't join them down in the Hall for meals - even Wendy tended to not do so - as she complained that the food was not to her tastes. Today however the nymphs were making an exception so they could meet whoever decided to pay Andi a visit.

Not even Ida was sure who would come, apparently having heard nothing from Olympus on the matter. And that was not even taking into account the possibility of some fickle god acting on a whim and deciding to make an appearance.

 _By Olympus I hope not. I've gotten enough flak for favoritism already, I don't need another unscheduled godly visit._

"Done?" Ida asked as the demigoddess finished her meal.

"Yup." Andi replied, with a satisfied smile on her face.

"Good. It's almost time." Eying the food still on the table, Ida couldn't resist commenting. "I don't understand how you can stand this sorry excuse for food, Andi."

"It's not that bad." Wendy defended loyally. "So long as it's in moderation."

"I suppose." The older nymph conceded, even as Professor McGonagall came alongside the Gryffindor table where the trio were sitting.

"Potter, the champions are congregating in the chamber off the Hall after breakfast," she said.

"Right. Thanks Professor."

The older witch just nodded and moved away.

"Well, let's go see who showed up." Andi said with a hopeful smile as she stood up.

She knew it was probably wishful thinking on her part and despite her earlier concerns about unscheduled godly visits, she really hoped her dad had found the time to make it.

"Let's." Ida agreed as the two nymphs likewise stood.

As a group, the three headed off to the chamber off the Hall that had been set aside for the meet up. Stepping in, Andi noted that they were the last to get there. Viktor Krum was over in a corner, conversing with his dark-haired mother and father in rapid Bulgarian. On the other side of the room, Fleur was jabbering away in French to her mother while her little sister was holding her mother's hand.

She didn't examine them too closely though. The daughter of Zeus was too interested in who had come to visit _her_ to be curious about other people. Who she found was a pleasant surprise.

Just seeing the woman, Andi could tell who she was. The woman looked slightly younger than Ida, had similar crystal-like eyes that shimmered with a light all their own and long flowing purple hair that she'd styled into pigtails. She gave off a less stern vibe and in fact almost seemed to radiate cheerfulness. This was offset somewhat, but not by much, by her professional looking white skirt suit with black trimming.

"You're Adrasteia, aren't you?" Andi asked the woman as she walked up to her.

The woman in turn cocked her head at the sight of her, examining her keenly for a long moment.

"Hm, definitely lil Zeus', you've got that rascal's eyes for sure. Greetings lil Andromeda, I send greetings from your Father. As he cannot come himself, he wished to have someone represent him for this occasion."

Andi's shoulders slumped a little at that.

Adrasteia caught it and quickly continued sympathetically. "No need to fret. He will be watching this event from Olympus."

 _That's something I guess._ Andi conceded even as she nodded sadly, the news only slightly improving her mood. She was happy that her dad would at least be watching, don't get her wrong, it was just that she'd preferred he'd come to do so in person.

"In his absence, may I personally wish you the best of luck!" The mountain nymph finished cheerfully.

Yes, far less stern than Ida.

"Sister, you're blabbering." Andi's guardian said in greeting.

"Just getting the formalities out of the way is all." The lawyer said with a playful smirk.

Ida just rolled her eyes at her sister's antics.

Wendy was too awestruck by meeting Ida's sister to do much of anything. She just stood there beside Andi looking at Adrasteia with open admiration.

Andi was faintly amused by her partner's reaction but that didn't distract her enough to stop her from asking a few important questions.

"Is anyone from Camp coming?"

Adrasteia shook her head apologetically at this.

Andi's shoulders slumped, feeling down that neither Chiron or any of her friends would be coming.

Seeing her sadness, the nymph quickly explained. "They're otherwise engaged with another matter. I'm sure if they weren't, they'd be here."

"Why? Did something happen?"

"Yes, but I'm sorry. I can't tell you anything. Chiron asked me not to inform you about what's going on yet, and to tell you that it's best that you focus on your current Task." Adrasteia offered with an apologetic smile.

Andi just pouted, but didn't raise too much of a complaint. After all the trouble she had gotten into already, -She still remembered Mr. D's rage clearly- Andi didn't want to push things too much. Besides, she trusted Chiron's judgement. If he thought she shouldn't invite more trouble than she wouldn't.

"Are you done with your rambling, dear sister?" Ida asked with crossed arms, giving the shorter nymph a look.

"Rambling? Dear elder sister, I haven't the faintest clue what you mean!" Adrasteia covered her mouth in shock. "I'm merely delivering news. Still, I see you are as inflexible as always."

Ida gave her a sterner glare. "Sister, we're not doing this here. Be professional."

The younger nymph held up her hands. "Of course, of course. All business today."

She winked at Andi playfully, which made the demigod wonder how the nymphs were in a more casual setting.

Spurred on by this curiosity Andi decided to find out more about the sisters as they headed up towards their suite to chat the day away.

Adrasteia told her stories about Zeus when he was a young god, with the occasional gush about how cute he was as a child. She even entertained Wendy - once the Aura had recovered from her daze enough to ask - with a few stories about the daily lives of mountain nymphs, which Andi found boring but left her partner enthralled.

All the while Ida looked on in a mixture of amusement and disapproval. She even scolded her sister a few times when she felt she was getting a little too rambunctious, reminding her that she was an adult and so should act like it. Said sister just brushed these chidings off with a smirk though and Ida didn't press. It seemed almost like a game the two were playing.

Andi thus had a fun time with Ida's sister. However, all good things must come to an end and as the sun set, the time for the Third Task was upon them.

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr. Bagman down to the stadium now."

"Finally." Andi said with a sigh of relief. She couldn't wait for this silly Tournament to be over. It'd caused her enough grief as is.

It was thus with an almost giddy anticipation to finally end this farce that Andi stood from the Gryffindor table where she'd been having dinner and joined the other Champions as they headed out of the Great Hall.

"Feeling alright. Andi?" Bagman asked as they went down the stone steps onto the grounds. "Confident?"

Andi ignored the man. She didn't know him at all, so didn't feel the need to reply.

He looked put out by her brushing him off, but she didn't give a damn.

They walked onto the Quidditch field, which was now completely unrecognizable. A twenty-foot-high hedge ran all the way around the edge of it. There was a gap right in front of them: the entrance to the vast maze. The passage beyond it looked dark and creepy.

Five minutes later, the stands had begun to fill; the air was full of excited voices and the rumbling of feet as the hundreds of students filed into their seats. The sky was a deep, clear blue now, and the first stars were starting to appear. Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick and this year's DADA professor came walking into the stadium and approached Bagman and the champions. They were wearing large, red, luminous stars on their hats, all except Hagrid, who had his on the back of his moleskin vest.

"We are going to be patrolling the outside of the maze," said Professor McGonagall to the champions. "If you get into difficulty, and wish to be rescued, send red sparks into the air, and one of us will come and get you, do you understand?"

The champions nodded.

"Off you go, then!" Bagman said brightly to the four patrollers.

Hagrid, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick set off immediately, but the fourth lingered.

"You mind if I have a word with Potter before we get started?"

"Of course not," Bagman replied cheerfully, "Go ahead, Moody."

Andi looked at the man. He had dark grey, grizzled hair, skin covered with scars, a chunk of his nose was missing and he had a wooden leg. His eyes, however, were his most shocking feature: one was small and dark while the other was a vivid, electric blue magical eye that moved around independently from his normal eye. It was what earned him the nickname of "Mad-Eye Moody" that Andi had heard he was more commonly known by. Beyond that he was Hogwarts' new DADA Professor, but that was all she knew for sure.

Wendy scooted closer to Andi as the man approached them, her weariness of the wizard obvious.

Since Andi didn't go to Hogwarts anymore all she knew about the man was from Ron. According to the Weasley, he was supposedly some crazy ex-Auror and took a heavy hand in teaching. Even going so far as to display the three Unforgivables to his classes.

"What can I do for you, sir?" Andi asked, wondering what the man could want from her.

The grizzled man gave her an even more grizzled smile. "Just wishin' ya luck, Potter. Looking forward to you grasping that Cup."

Andi's instincts started to tingle at this. "That's pretty weird, wishing good luck to a contestant that's not representing your school. Or better yet someone I don't even know personally coming to wish me good luck, I'm not the most popular person after all."

"You'd be surprised. There are a lot of people who are rooting for you, not that they'll say it out loud. Dark horse bet you are." Moody waved off her concern. "Besides, I'm the loyal type, yer British, therefore the closest thing Hogwarts' got to a Champion right now."

"Moody, get on patrol man!" Bagman called out to them, making the old wizard glare his swirling magical eye at the plump sports announcer.

"Don't give me that look." The Ministry man said apologetically. "The clock's ticking. So just get going, would ya?"

Moody growled in annoyance but nonetheless set off, though his magical eye continued to glare at Bagman.

Andi shot Wendy a look. "He's weird."

The Aura gave a big nod to that.

Bagman waited for Moody to get out of sight before taking a breath to compose himself and then pointed his wand at his throat. "Sonorus," he muttered and his magically magnified voice echoed into the stands.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand! In first place, with eighty points - Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute!" The crowd applauded wildly. "In second place for seventy two points- Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!" More enthusiastic applause. "And in third place with sixty eight points, Miss Andromeda Potter!"

All Andi got was a quiet polite applause.

The demigod rolled her eyes.

"Now, on my whistle, Krum!" said Bagman. "Three - two - one -"

He gave a short blast on his whistle and Krum ran right into the maze like he was possessed.

* * *

It was several minutes later that Andi as the Champion with the lowest score was finally allowed to enter into the maze. The towering hedges cast black shadows across the path, and, whether because they were so tall and thick or because they had been enchanted, the sound of the surrounding crowd was silenced the moment she entered the maze.

"Wendy," Andi barked as she drew Skyline and they advanced cautiously.

The Aura nodded and immediately transformed into the Storm Mail. They had discussed this previously and both partners agreed that without knowing what was waiting for them inside the maze, it was best to maximize their defenses. Just in case something unexpected jumped them.

Her caution was rewarded when she turned around her first corner and was cannonballed by some kind of shiny bug the size of a small boulder. The Storm Mail kept her from getting hurt but the impact still sent her stumbling back, thankfully giving her some distance between her and her attacker.

It was a ten foot long giant scorpion like creature with a shiny exoskeleton and a pair of stingers instead of pincers that it held curled over its body. Andi vaguely remembered Ron mentioned something that fit the description, one of Hagrid's latest pets. A Blast-Ended Squirt? Andi couldn't recall correctly, not that she cared much.

Not when the thing was curling itself back up into a ball presumably to shoot itself - however it did that - at her again.

Andi rushed to meet it head on but was surprised when it let loose an explosive blast from, of all places, it's rear end that sent it flying towards her. Despite the unexpected move on the creature's part, Andi's training kicked in and she kept her cool. Moving like the finely honed swordswoman she was, Andi flashed Skyline's sword form at the magical beast, slicing through its exoskeleton with ease and bisecting it. Its remains crumbled into a heap, but in its last throes of life it still tried to take its killer with it as its stingers stabbed out at her.

The Storm Mail easily blocked them and Andi walked away from the dying creature unfazed. Her attention already shifting to her surroundings and on the lookout for another ambush.

" _What in the world was that thing?"_ Wendy asked with clear disgust in her voice.

"I heard it's some kind of cross between two magical creatures."

" _That half giant friend of yours has some serious problems! That was an abomination, as if we need new monsters in the world."_

"I think he thought it'd be a nice pet." The demigod explained with a shrug. "He's likes to keep dangerous things as pets. The more dangerous the better.

" _...I never want to come back here, Andi."_ The young Aura begged. _"Ever."_

"Good news, that's our aim here." Andi said as they turned the next bend of the maze and advanced forward. They entered a large circular clearing and immediately went to high alert at what they saw.

"Oh boy." Andi pursed her lips at spotting the creature that was across from her.

It was a monster with the body of a huge lion and the head of a woman. She would've been pretty, but her hair was tied back in a tight bun and she wore too much makeup. She had a blue ribbon badge pinned to her chest that took Andi a moment to read: this monster has been rated exemplary!

"Welcome, lucky contestants!" She announced, with a smile that was equal parts giddy and predatory. "Get ready to play…ANSWER THAT RIDDLE!"

"A Sphinx, and me without Google." The demigod muttered to herself as she came face to face with the monster.

"Apologies for the lackluster set up." The Sphinx sighed. "Those awful wizards wouldn't even let me bring my props for this! How can a game show work without an applause track? Savages."

Andi nodded mutely, confused by where this was going.

A swirl of Mist conjured up a podium in front of the demigod and an electronic board materialized next to the Sphinx whose tail was wagging happily.

"Well, too bad for the dullards that I can make do with the Mist. They'll just get to see nothing but a fogbank while we enjoy the game. You don't mind do you, godling?"

"Not at all." The daughter of Zeus agreed, not wanting to set off the surprisingly friendly if seemingly crazy monster. She stood behind the podium and felt a little silly, but if the monster wasn't attacking then whatever. "I'm ready for your riddle."

"Oh, you seem to be a little out of date there dear." The Sphinx said with a fang filled smile. "It isn't one riddle, it's _twenty_."

"I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say the one about Man isn't included."

"Ugh, I swear! Oedipus ruined that by spreading the answer to anyone who'd listen to him! Nearly ran me out of business." The Sphinx snarled. "I guess it was for the best though, led me to work on my material. Google has been both a blessing and a curse in that regard. So now, twenty questions!" The Sphinx's tone turned sugary sweet. "Answer them all correctly, within the allotted sixty seconds each of course, and you get fabulous prizes and get to advance! Fail, and I get to eat you! "

"Oh, that's lovely."

"Isn't it? I'm even being generous and counting you and your Aura friend as one contestant since you're bonded. Aren't I nice?" The Sphinx said with that vicious smile of hers.

"Yes, very. Thank you." Andi said genuinely on behalf of herself and Wendy. Though it was as much a attempt at trying her best to butter up the monster than anything else. Hopefully, that would convince it to softball her on the questions. "It's nice to see you keeping up with the times so well too."

"Why thank you, little hero. I do try my best." The Sphinx preened. "But enough chit chat, let's start the game now."

Andi nodded.

Receiving the demigod's acknowledgement, the monster continued. "Now without further adieu, let's begin… ANSWER THAT RIDDLE!"

The board whirled and a sentence appeared on it.

 **What element has the atomic number of sixty?**

" _...Andi that doesn't look like a-"_

 _I know._ Andi smiled, but hey, if she didn't have to answer an actual riddle then go Team Andi. A clock started to count down on the board and by the time that Andi had got her head back on straight, it was already down to twenty two seconds. Not wasting anymore time, Andi hurriedly thought back on her studies.

"Neodymium!"

A positive chime went off and the Sphinx clapped her paws together. "Correct! Now, next riddle!"

 **Who are the American continents named after?**

"That's an easy one." Andi commented, hopefully without jinxing herself. "Amerigo Vespucci!"

Another positive chime and the Sphinx's tail wagged happily. "Correct again! Next riddle."

 **What is the square root of 3249?**

This stumped Andi for a little bit as she struggled through the math in her head to get the correct answer. Just as the timer counted down to the ten seconds mark, she figured it out and shouted out. "Fifty seven!"

She was greeted with another positive chime, and the Sphinx looking disappointed as she announced the next riddle.

The 'riddles' kept coming and more than a few nearly led to Andi being part of the monster's balanced dinner, but she kept pushing towards the final question. They all seemed to be things that Andi learned in her lessons with Ida, stuff that she never thought she'd ever need to know but which she was now more than thankful for studying about.

 **You will always find me in the past. I can be created in the present. But the future can never taint me. What am I?**

"Huh? What?" Andi reeled. "Is that an actual riddle?"

"I have been known for the occasional curveball." The Sphinx said while licking one of her paws.

While Andi was trying to come to terms with the change of pace, Wendy gasped in her mind. _"I know this! It's history!"_

"History? What history?"

The positive chime sounded in response to Andi's confused mutterings.

Confetti showered Andi and she swatted it away. "I don't get it."

" _I'll explain it to you later."_

Ignoring the demigod's confusion, the grumpy looking Sphinx spoke up. "And we have a winner! Andromeda Potter has won ANSWER THAT RIDDLE! Sphinx, tell her what's she's won!" The creature said referring to herself in the third person. "Why thank you, Sphinx. Our contestant has won the right to continue forth with the Triwizard Tournament." The monster cleared her throat and then continued in an insincere voice. "We here at Answer That Riddle would like to thank our sponsors at Eleusinian Ridge, for all your favorite themed Ambrosia snack goods! Try out our bestseller, the goldfish! The latest and best in our fish theme line!"

And Andi was getting more weirded out by the second. "Uh, can I go?"

"Yes, of course-oh wait!" The sphinx said in a singsong voice and pulled out a little sheet of stickers. Using a claw, she plucked a sticker off the sheet and held out a gold star to the demigod. "Here's your secret reward for being a real trooper."

Andi cautiously walked up to the monster and took the sticker, putting it on her shirt.

"It also glows in the dark." The monster whispered. "Now get going, I'm waiting for the next contestant."

The daughter of Zeus got the hell out of there as fast as she could.

" _Monsters are weird."_

"You're singing to the choir on that one, Wendy." Andi replied earnestly. "I'm just glad that we didn't need to fight her. All that ended up doing was wasting time and since I don't really care about the Cup, I'm golden."

" _Don't you mean you're a gold star?"_ Wendy teased.

Andi couldn't resist giggling at that.

"Never stop being adorable."

* * *

Andi trudged through the rest of the maze wary but largely disinterested. She spotted a few dangerous looking creatures, including what looked like a manticore, but thankfully was able to detour around them and avoid them. It was probably killing her time, but she honestly didn't give a damn.

That changed though when she stumbled over a scene that sent her blood boiling.

Andi had just turned a corner to avoid going down a path lined by statues that she was sure would come to life and attack her the moment she passed them, when she spotted a glassy eyed Krum standing over Fleur who was collapsed on the ground and shaking slightly.

"Cru-"

 _Wendy, protect Fleur!_ Andi ordered as she aimed her finger at Krum, even as the Bulgarian finished his spell. The Aura released their Storm Mail and flew towards the young woman.

-cio!"

Andi cried out, "Stupefy!" and the scarlet spell shot threw the air.

Both the Aura and the two spells covered the distance at the same time.

Wendy managed to transform into the Storm Mail over Fleur's body just moments before Krum's spell hit and caused the whirling wind armor to writhe and twist unnaturally even as a burst of pain surged through the bond Andi shared with her partner.

A moment later, Andi's own spell connected with the boy and he collapsed into a heap, passed out from the single stunner. This thankfully cut off the Cruciatus that he was using and Wendy immediately reformed next to Fleur. The young nymph was slumped to all fours as she breathed hard.

Seeing that her attacker was down and shooting her savior a fearful look, Fleur took the chance to get away and bolted.

"A thanks would be nice!" Wendy cried after the fleeing French girl as she finally caught her breath and stood back up.

"Ignore her." Andi said as she conjured up a set of chains out of a nearby bunch of pebbles, tying up Krum so he wasn't a danger to others or possibly himself when he woke up. "You alright?" The demigod asked in concern, as she followed up by firing a burst of red sparks into the sky to call for the judges to collect the bound Bulgarian.

Wendy, still upset, merged back with Andi and formed their Storm Mail.

" _Yeah. That pain curse just knocked the wind out me is all."_

"Aren't you made of wind?" Andi teased, getting back at her partner for earlier.

" _Ha ha."_ Wendy shot back crankily. _"You know what I meant."_

"Yeah, I do." Andi said as she gave Krum a swift kick to the bits and was satisfied by his grunt of pain. The guy deserved it for using an Unforgivable in her mind.

"Come on, let's go."

She could have waited for the judges to show up, but frankly she didn't think her temper would hold if she did. She didn't like bullies on principle and torturers - and the Cruciatus Curse was _the_ torture spell - were among the worse of the lot. She didn't want to tempt the Fates by staying next to Krum right now.

So instead the demigod set off, jogging up to a fork in the path. Going right, they walked for another few minutes until the partners were halted by a large patch of slithering green vines, each as thick as a medium sized tree trunk.

"...Devil's Snare." Andi said, sounding wistful as she was reminded her of her first year as a witch.

It brought up memories of her, Hermione, and Ron when they still were the 'Golden Trio'.

Shaking her head to clear her head of the bittersweet memory, Andi got to the task at hand and produced a flame with an Incendio spell. The heat and light of the flame caused the plant to shierk, backing away and slithering into the hedges and clearing the path.

As they advanced, Wendy said. _"I can't help but pity the poor thing. All these bright lights around must be so uncomfortable for it."_

"So you speak plant now? Quite the little linguist I've got for a partner, huh?."

" _I don't speak plant silly, but I can at least sense its feelings. It really isn't hard if you bothered to read its body language."_

Andi rolled her eyes. _Plants had body language? I don't think I'll ever understand you nature spirits._

" _I can give you lessons!"_

 _Pass._

" _Aw… Come on, it'll be fun! And afterwards you'll know how to read Ida too. Wouldn't that be cool?"_

Now wasn't that tempting? Ida could be so difficult to read at times, and on more than one occasion Andi had wished for some kind of guide to understand her guardian.

"I'll think about it."

 _Yay!_

"Don't celebrate just yet. I haven't agreed to anything."

* * *

There were a few more obstacles after that, but nothing major. Just some pesky Cornish Pixies and a single very upset fire spitting magical tortoise, but nothing that Andi and Wendy couldn't handle.

With those out of the way, it didn't take them long before they made it to the center of the maze.

Squinting her eyes, Andi could see the Triwizard Cup glittering in the torchlight as it sat on a pedestal at the absolute center of the maze. Stationed in front of it was an Acromantula the size of a horse. It looked furious, twitching its limbs and snapping its mandibles at the air and cursing up a storm, obviously unhappy to be there. As Andi stepped closer, it's beady little eyes all locked onto her and it snapped its mandibles at her.

"At last! Some fresh meat like the wizards promised." The giant arachnid said, sounding gleeful as it advanced menacingly towards the demigod.

"Yeah, no. Bye-bye." Andi simply slashed at it with Skyline from a distance, in the process releasing an arc of air. The horizontal arc easily took out its legs, leaving its body to roll along the ground as it cursed at her in both English and spider.

It was silenced by a wind arrow to the head that went right through the mandibles.

"You shouldn't talk to a lady like that." Andi chided the dead creature as she walked past its corpse while her bow changed back into a keychain.

"I go at this casually, and I still find it first." Andi couldn't help but feel a bit bored over the whole matter. Seriously, the biggest threat had been the Sphinx, and she got a gold star out of that!

" _I guess that means the girl's fat legs couldn't carry her the rest of the way."_

 _Are you holding a grudge?_

" _She was very rude after we saved her!"_

The demigod agreed, if the French Champion wanted to be a bint, let her be. It was no skin off Andi's nose.

As they got nearer the Cup, Andi began feeling more and more relaxed. It seemed a little odd, almost unnatural, but there were clearly no threats around so she didn't really see the problem. Maybe she was being overconfident, but considering the situation, she felt she had every right to be.

"Wendy, why don't you release the Mail and stretch a bit?"

" _You sure?"_ Wendy asked cautiously. _"We're still in the maze."_

"It's fine. We're almost done anyways."

Almost. The word rang loudly in her mind, telling her that she shouldn't let her guard down. Not yet. But she was suddenly feeling so safe, she ignored it.

" _If you're sure."_

"I am. Come on."

Wendy reluctantly did as requested, releasing the wind armor and reappearing next to Andi mid-stretch. She looked wary though as she eyed the various entrances to the center of the maze as if something could spring out of them at any moment.

Part of Andi shared her concern, but mostly she just though her partner was being paranoid.

"Are you that tired?" Andi teased the Aura, trying to lighten up her partner's mood.

Wendy just shrugged, before throwing her a playful smirk. "Not really. But isn't it the smart thing to cool down after exercising?"

"Is that what we were doing?" Andi joked back. "So you're a budding exercise trainer now?"

"Since I've started following you on your daily runs? Yes." Wendy deadpanned at her.

"Hey, they are good for you. You know that." Andi shot back as she unconsciously begun reaching for the Cup.

The second her fingers grasped around the Cup's handle, Andi felt as though she was being pulled by her bellybutton all while Wendy shouted her name.

* * *

Landing face first in the dirt, Andi had a sense of deja vu as she recalled how she first got to Camp.

 _That wasn't Apparition though, it felt like...a Portkey!_

Pushing herself up, Andi could taste the stale air and as she looked around her, she came face to face with a headstone. The words carved on it were a bit jumbled thanks to weathering and her dyslexia but with some concentration she managed to make out the name: Thomas Riddle.

Shaking her head, the demigod pulled herself together, just in time to hear a spell be cried out in the distance and a powerful magic settle all around her.

Getting to her feet, Andi heard the gloating of an middle-aged woman. "Your death is nigh, Potter. Tonight we end this!"

Turning to look at the woman, she found that she was a tiny thing, just a smidge taller than the demigod herself. Her blonde hair was graying and she was dressed in unflattering black robes that served to hide her entire figure, making her look like an amorphous black blob. Her most striking feature however were her eyes, which were a familiar blood red.

Eyes that had been haunting her dreams for a while now and who she'd last seen on a certain possessed house elf.

"Voldemort?" Andi asked, feeling a bit sick in her stomach from the bumpy ride.

The woman gave her a toothy smile. "Indeed, Potter. I do hope you enjoyed the portkey. I had one of my followers rig the Cup, just to make it a bit more rough for you."

"Ugh, how sweet of you." She snapped at the now female Voldemort. "I've actually been looking for you, thanks for making it easier. You mind dying again? Because I seriously hope you don't."

"Brave words from a brave fool." Voldemort shot back. "Though I suppose at least you're better than the pathetic excuse for a witch whose body I now wear."

"Yeah, was wondering about that…" Andi muttered and refrained from making any of the snide remarks that had popped into her head, instead choosing to keep her composure. She needed to buy time to get her bearings on the situation and hopefully for Wendy to track her down and bring some reinforcements, just in case. She didn't want to set her volatile opponent off. Not yet.

"So… Who did you body jump this time, Tommy-Boy?"

"Bertha Jorkins." The dark wizard -or was he a witch now?- explained. "The idiot woman practically offered herself up to me on a silver platter. She was chasing rumors about me and ended up stumbling into where I was hiding. She might not be much, but one can't look a gift horse in the mouth."

"Looks like you're a match made in Heaven." Andi spat out. Why did so many people get possessed lately?

"It's only temporary, I assure you." Voldemort said as he advanced on her, the picture of confidence. He didn't even raise his wand, instead clutching it loosely in her right hand.

As Voldemort came within arms length, Andi decided that she really didn't want the dark lord that close to her.

"Air Hammer!" The daughter of Zeus shouted as she called on her powers to help her smite her wizarding nemesis.

Or at least she tried to. The second she fired off her attack, instead of the winds coalescing together to strike at the wizard, she was instead hit by a powerful stinging sensation that jolted down her spine.

"Ah! The shite?!" Andi hissed, her back arching as she looked around in a bid to spot what had hit her.

Nothing, there was no sign of what had attacked her whatsoever.

Voldemort cackled at this and Andi turned to glare daggers at her.

"Eager for blood aren't you, Potter? Where are your manners? Has becoming an American turned you into a savage?"

"What did you do, you hazard to life?" The child of Zeus demanded.

"Thank you for the compliment. I'm glad you think so highly of my abilities." Voldemort replied with a smirk. "As for what I've done? Just a little spell to ban, for a lack of a better word, any and all violence in a given area. And which as you've experienced first hand reminds violators of this fact through some gloriously intense pain."

Andi scoffed, that level of pain was nothing compared to what she had been through in the past.

Voldemort looked proud of herself, smiling even in his own grotesque way. "Something meant to ensure peace at negotiations during wartime and here I've twisting it to my own ends. Isn't it fantastic?"

"You gonna keep giggling like a schoolgirl or are you going to get to the point?" Andi said in annoyance, trying to figure how to work around the blasted ward.

"I most certainly will!" Voldemort said gleefully. Unnerved by his apparent cheer, Andi turned to look at him and ended up staring right into her eyes. She found herself so caught up in his red eyes, that she was caught flat footed when Ladymort was sent flying right into a tombstone.

A wincing Wendy landed next to her. "Andi! I was so worried, are you okay?"

"Yeah." Andi told her partner with a reassuring smile, before becoming serious. "That's Voldemort. Let's kill him and be done with this quest. I want to go home."

"Okay."

"We can't use magic. His spell will cancel out magic and cause us pain if we attack, so just bear with it."

"Right!" Wendy gave a big nod and merged into their armor.

The demigod advanced towards Voldemort and summoned her blade, wind hissing around it like a chainsaw.

Spikes of pain began to prickle all around her body, but the demigod did her best to block it out.

"No, no! You shouldn't be able to do this!" She hissed at the teenager, trying to scurry away.

Andi didn't bother with a witty one liner or any smack talk, she just swung Skyline in silence and watched the dead man's head roll.

Pain wracked both Wendy and Andi. It was so intense that their Storm Mail came undone. Leaving the young Aura to slump to the ground as Andi fell onto her hands and knees, both fighting off the awful pain.

It was worth it, though, Voldemort was dead. At last.

* * *

"...And then Wendy and I took the Cup back to Hogwarts, where we were declared the winners of the stupid Tournament." Andi finished her tale and offered her two granddaughters a proud smile.

"What next Gran?" "Yeah, what happened after that!"

The two were being more excitable than usual, bouncing on the sides of the bed. Seeing their youthful enthusiasm made the old woman chuckle though that quickly degenerated into a wet cough. "I went right back to Camp after that. By that point, I had enough of Wizarding Britain for a few decades! But, while I was away the Titan war had gone right into the toilet."

"There had been a dozen major battles, and I'd already lost some wonderful friends." Andi grew solemn at this as she thought back to the Dionysius twins and their heroic last stand against the Titan Iapetus. "I was right upset they kept this from me, just because of some silly competition. So I jumped right into the fray! We fought for the rest of the following year, right until I turned sixteen."

"When the Great Prophecy was fulfilled!" The younger girl cheered.

"Yes, and right in the lobby of the Empire State Building, the foot of Olympus itself, I fought Kronos singlehandedly." She recalled the battle with pinpoint detail, down to every injury she had taken and returned in kind. To every painful detail of the deaths of her comrades as they fought against the other Titans. Percy being burned alive by Hyperion was something she'd never forget and would forever feel guilty for failing to prevent. "I managed to get a critical shot at Kronos, weakening him enough for a final strike that scattered his essence for good this time."

"Then what?" "Come on, Gran! Don't hold out on us!"

Andi smiled at them and raised weak hands to ruffle their hair. "After the war, your grandfather and I continued dating and right after he finished college we got married. A year later we started a family and had a beautiful little girl, your mum. Around this time, your dad managed to talk his Father into a deal to gain immortality, don't ask me how, so the two of us could be together forever after we die."

The long talk was getting the better of her, and Andi was suddenly overcome by a series of wet hacking coughs that rattled her chest and sent pain shooting through her old tired body.

"Girls!" The children's mother said admonishingly as she marched in and rushed to rub Andi's back soothingly. "You shouldn't be bothering grandma when she's ill. You know she can't get too worked up."

The elderly demigod scoffed. "I'm not ill, child. You know Thanatos is knocking on the door."

"Don't say that, mum. Knowing you, you'd outlive us all." Her daughter chided her with a smile.

Andi could barely muster a smile for her only child, she was just so tired. Her eyes felt so very heavy. Ah, there it was. Yes, her time had come, she could feel it in her bones.

She looked at the three surrounding her and reflected, her life flashing before her eyes in a sense.

Despite all the crap she had contended with until the end of the Triwizard and the ups and downs during the war, her life had been perfect. Or as perfect as a demigod's life could possibly be.

Her eyes continued to grow heavier as that word echoed in her mind.

Perfect. Perfect. Per-fect...

That word wasn't even in her vocabulary, nothing can be perfect. Especially not her life.

Where were the times that the Fates messed with her?

What about the gods?

Where was GlaDOS and Chell along with her other enemies?

It was as if everything had gone so _perfectly_ smoothly for her after her little brush up with Voldemort.

She was hated by plenty of gods, so there was no way they'd let this happen to her.

It was slow, but the realization eventually sunk in… _This is a lie, isn't it?_

She looked towards her daughter and grandchildren, their faces blurred in her weakening vision. Except it wasn't her wavering eyesight. Their faces were literally changing before her eyes, seemingly stuck in a state of constant flux.

 _Like I can't decide what I want them to look like._

What was even worse, their names escaped her grasp each time she tried to think on them. Sure old people forgot things, but not names like that. Not without suffering dementia or some other mental illness. Andi knew she wasn't ill and that she would never forget something like that. Family was everything to her.

"Mum?" Her daughter rubbed her shoulder as a tear rolled down Andi's wrinkled cheek.

With that the demigod closed her eyes.

* * *

Andi inhaled deeply, her eyes opening only to stare at dead grass and dirt. She tasted the stale air and realized she was still in the graveyard. As reality set in, tears began to roll down her cheeks in streams as she lamented what she had just lost.

"You're seriously fucked up, Tom." Andi said in a chilling whisper as the tears of sadness at the loss of her ideal world continued to flow even as she was chilled to the bone with icy anger.

Unbridled rage filled the daughter of Zeus' veins as she attempted to push herself up. Sadly, she failed as for some reason her limbs felt akin to lead.

She moved her head, seeing Voldemort smiling down at her menacingly. "I think not, _child_. Not when a single spell from me just managed to send your soul to the very verge of death."

Her fingers weakly fisted the grass. "You fuck with me, how 'bout I fuck with you!"

Calling on the Mist, she had the shroud of the gods dance around Tom as she made him view his first death from her own memory.

Suddenly the world around them shifted into a small nursery and the green light of the Killing Curse was shooting through the air at Voldemort.

The man/woman/whatever was unfazed and just cocked an unimpressed brow at the illusion.

"As if a babe could recall that minor event. Did you think to scare me with a recreation based purely on your pathetic imagination? I was _there_ , whelp!" Shaking her head in amusement and chuckling lightly, he dispelled the illusion with a wave of his hand. "It was a good try though, for an absolute _amateur_! That would have hardly fooled most people, let alone someone of my skill level."

Andi didn't give up, she tried again. Instead of going back to the past, this time she decided to show him what was to come.

She showed him the miles upon miles of painful torments that were the Fields of Punishment that she had seen in the Underworld that first summer at Camp. How he would be dragged before the colossally sized Hades, and sentenced by her uncle to a special punishment for being a fool to try defying death itself: that of being trapped alone in a endless empty void forever.

Again, Ladymort just laughed at her. "Now that was better, truly I think I felt a little shiver! But you forget the first thing about mind magicks. People see what they _want_ to see. You try to force them to see something they don't believe in? It falls apart. And I _know_ that limbo will not be my fate."

"You dumbass, I'm not trying to fool you. I'm showing you your future." She cracked a weak grin towards him.

"For a demigod, you know nothing." The wizard snorted derisively.

"...How?"

"I've been into your mind, do you honestly think I didn't see all your little secrets?"

The daughter of Zeus let out a small laugh. "So you know you're beyond screwed?"

Voldemort's smirk just grew even more triumphant. "On the contrary, at this point, even if you win here today, it'll be immaterial. After all, if gods are real… Then options that I've never before even imagined are open to me."

Andi broke out into laughter again. "You really think you can offer anything the gods care about?"

"The gods aren't the only things out there. I have other choices for allies. Some much more aligned with my own nature."

"Can you get any more stupid? You'd be chewed up and spat out in a heartbeat." The demigod mocked him, even as a shiver of unease shot down her spine.

"Shortsighted as always. But enough talk!"

The woman advanced towards her.

Knowing what was coming, Andi snapped her eyes shut as she tried to think up a plan.

"Come now child, open those pretty blue eyes. I want to see despair in them one final time."

 _T-That feels like some kind of Charmspeak!_ Andi noted as she suddenly felt compelled to obey.

Thankfully, by now she'd regained enough strength to pull off a spell, her trump card. Even as she felt herself succumb to his spell and her eyes steadily begin to slip open despite her fighting with all her will to keep them closed, she cast it.

"I've been dealing with lies for way too long, Tom. And Let me tell you, I'm bloody sick of 'em." Andi declared as she silently made a divine invocation in her own mind. One that she finished off by shouting, **"Επικαλούνται: Θεία διάταγμα - Δίας** (Invoke: Divine Decree - Zeus) **!"**

Suddenly a large white magic circle with intricate designs decorating it appeared under the whole graveyard. At the same time, the two souls in the graveyard felt themselves freeze in place.

Andi chuckled as Voldemort darted his eyes -the only thing she could still move- around in a panic.

"W-What did you do?"

Andi just chuckled even as a large scale appeared in the sky, hovering right above them such that each cup hung over each individual respectively.

Gesturing with her eyes towards it, Andi explained. "Oh that? Just a little spell I came across while doing some schoolwork. See, it invokes a god of judgement to pass their verdict on the guilty. It's a very old, very powerful bit of magic." Andi's taunting voice became serious as she continued. "Now I know I'm no saint, but I'm liking my chances a lot more than yours."

The scale rumbled in the sky and the one over Voldemort tilted towards her.

"No, no!" The genderbent villain screamed at the top of his lungs. "You cannot do this, you cannot strike me down!"

"I ain't touching you, you freaking baby...you're being judged by a higher power than you could ever hope to grasp. Or more precisely, my dad's passing judgement. And you know who that is, right Tom?"

"I'm Lord Voldemort! I accept the judgement of no one. Not even a god!" The condemned wizard raved.

"We've all got dreams, but sadly reality is knocking." Andi gave him a dark smile. "It's time to face the music. Be judged twice, both in life and death, Tom. Also, tell Uncle Hades hullo for me."

"No! I can't accept thi-" Apparently, fed up with the mortal's whining, Zeus dropped the scale directly onto Voldemort, pinning him as the clouds overhead darkened to a boiling black. Lighting streaked along them as booms of thunder filled the area.

"I am Lord Voldemort, I am immortal!"

Andi said nothing as the clouds broke open to deliver a righteous bolt of divine lightning.

It was bright and powerful, so much so that Andi was blown back by the force and tumbled until she hit a tombstone.

Even through the boom of thunder, the demigod's hearing caught Voldemort's final cry.

"I'll be back!"

"...Man, and here I thought he couldn't be any more cliche." Andi told herself as a final loud boom of thunder went off, ending the spell.

The drain from the spell hit her immediately but despite feeling spent, Andi tried to get to her feet. The best she could manage was to get to her knees while panting.

While catching her breath, she couldn't help but reflect on what she'd just gone through. As she recalled the utopia that Voldemort's illusion had showed her, she couldn't resist the sob that escaped her lips.

 _Will I ever be able to create a life anywhere near as good as that?_ Andi thought to herself uncertainly. _"Don't dream about what-ifs. If you want to do something then put in all your effort to make it happen."_ _That's what Ida told me once…_

Mustering her strength, Andi forced herself to her feet. _She couldn't been more right._

Her resolve restored, Andi made a vow. "If I want a future like that, then I need to damn well fight for it with everything I have."

And that was all she could do.

With that, the daughter of Zeus limped towards the Cup.

* * *

 **Whoo boy! What a chapter, thanks to the writing team of Nameless and Axios as always!**

 **What a ride, right? Hope you guys enjoyed it, I know we did a lot of big changes, but it was for Character Development, which I think tempered a once zany themed character from a crack fic pretty well.**

 **Nameless: It's over folks! Book Two is done! Woohoo! It's been an interesting ride hasn't it. Some ups and plenty of downs. Well, we can assure you that things will start looking better for Andi in the next book. At least our plans say so. No telling with the final product sometimes.**

 **As for this chapter in particular. Why don't we start talking about the maze, I hope you liked our take on it. Especially the Sphinx. E4E was seriously stoked about that, so I hope you like how his enthusiasm made it turn out. Psst. If you don't like it, it's his fault.**

 **E4E: Yeah, I always enjoyed the Sphinx in PJO. It's a fav scene to be honest. So why not bring her in? Man, Annie is so going to be jelly after the whole BOTL event. Now, that whole mental battle was to show that Andi's never faced mental attacks of that level before. So we got that out of the way, really twisted of Ladymort doing that huh? And the Bertha Jorkins idea was new I feel, because I haven't seen that done before.**

 **Nameless: Neither have I. Even that mental battle thing is rare and the few I've seen were more fighting in dreamscapes rather than tricking someone into dying with an ideal world. Plus it was the perfect setup for some soul searching too, how could we resist?**

 **Andi wants a happy ending folks, and she's set to fight for it. I think that's pretty solid for a protag in my mind. Also there's a very good reason why Andi is suffering. She's made a very dangerous set of enemies (the Fates) unknowingly and they are carving their pound of flesh from her as a result. But she will get a chance to salvage the situation soon.**

 **Nameless: Agreed. A good protagonist should always have to struggle to get their ending, happy or not.**

 **Now you know what to do! Smash that review button! Tell us what you loved and no flames please! Peace off my peeps!**


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